Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

The Bible is a Moon Rock
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I'm a bit late in linking to this. But here is an excerpt of a piece that appeared in the Florida Sun-Sentinel about an appearance I made there recently. It begins: "Bruce Feiler treats the Bible like a moon rock -- a rare, touchable sample of another world. And one that can change your outlook. 'Almost everyone I know who has done been to the desert has felt a powerful connection between the land and the stories,' says the author of the best-seller Walking the Bible. 'Whether you've been to the Holy Land 25 times or never, and see a rock in the exhibit, you're there.'"

Feiler, 42, has apparently stumbled onto a red-hot demand by American readers: background on holy writ that doesn't push a theological agenda.

He first saw that need in 2001 with Walking the Bible, his account of his 10,000-mile trek to the sites of the big events of the Torah: Eden, Ararat, the Red Sea, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem -- "real stories in real places," as he told a Fox News interviewer.

Feiler followed up in 2002 with a book on Abraham, then in 2005 with Where God Was Born: A Journey by Land to the Roots of Religion, looking up locations for the likes of David and Joshua. He also hosted a PBS miniseries last year on Walking the Bible, a special now out on DVD.

But he thinks more than rock-solid certainty is at work in the popularity of his work. He says it's also the freedom to voice doubts about the literal truth of the Bible stories, even as he visited the sites -- like Kaumah, Iraq, the traditional site of Eden -- to check them out.

"Most people who speak about religion do so from a position of certitude; they either feel they have it, or that they should have it," says Feiler, who attends a synagogue in Brooklyn. "It was hard for me to write about my struggles. But people have given me the most e-mail on that -- thanking me for talking about doubt."

He doggedly believes that the battle is being won for interfaith understanding, whatever it may look like day to day. On the ground level, he notes a lot of anger over Islam, both by and at Muslims. But at "30,000 feet," progress is visible, he says.

One example: the criticism of Pope Benedict XVI for his verbal attacks on Islam. "Popes have attacked Islam for 500 years, but no one objected. That's what popes did. Now there's a blowback.

"A hundred years ago, America was called a Christian society. Fifty years ago, people started calling it a Judeo-Christian society. After 9-11, people realize we live in an Abrahamic society, that we have to bring Islam into the conversation.

"The day-to-day struggles are messy, but the long term struggle is being won."

Labels: Bruce in the Media

Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM
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