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

What Are Soldiers are Learning in Iraq
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

A reader writes that her son's two tours of duty in Iraq has challenged her to learn more about the Bible.

I want you to know that I really enjoyed your book "Where God was Born" I enjoyed the way you put the Bible and history of the Mid East together. When I was a little girl I wanted to be an archaeologist but marriage and 4 boys came and digging in the backyard was the only archeology I was able to do. I have done a lot of reading on the Mid East recently as my son has done 2 tours of duty in Iraq and I find it fascinating and mysterious. I can only wish that you could have included photos of the places like the staircase and the mosques that you visited. You gave me the opportunity to travel with you on a trip that I know that I will never be able to make and I loved every minute of it. Thank you so much and God bless you

P.S. I found that when my son returned from Iraq the second time he told me that Mohammed was born first before Christ and that Muslims wrote the Bible and that everyone else stole it. So I started studying and reading educating myself because I know that I better get my facts straight before we discuss this. I started with Karen Armstrong and several other books and now you, but you were the only one who put the history and with now and the Bible. Thanks again.

First of all, some good news: The paperback of WHERE GOD WAS BORN has photos of my travels in Israel, Iraq, and Iran, including the staircase in Persepolis she mentioned. Second, Mohammad was born 600 years after the birth of Christ, so you're on safe ground there. But I do agree that Iraq, known by its ancient name Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers) does hold interesting clues about the shared ancestry of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

For me, one of the highlights of my decade of traveling was the time I spent visiting biblical sites in Iraq. Three years ago this week I traveled to Iraq, and during my time in the country I went to the Garden of Eden, Ur -- the birthplace of Abraham, Babylon, and Nineveh, where Jonah goes after being swallowed by the whale. The Tower of Babel was built here, too, and I think that story holds a wonderful message for our time. After the people build the tower, God smashes it and disperses them around the world, forcing humans to speak different languages. God wants us to be different. God wants us to speak different languages. He rejects fundamentalism, the idea that we all speak the same language. God wants us to be diversified.

This is the legacy of Iraq. And it's too often lost today.

Note: To post a comment about WHERE GOD WAS BORN or my other books, visit our new discussion boards here. To write me an e-mail, click here.

Labels: Middle East

Posted by B Feiler at 7:02 AM
Permalink Digg this Post Email this Post

0 Comments: