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    Where God Was Born
    Where God Was Born
    Where God Was Born
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Where God Was Born

    Written by Bruce Feiler

    Narrated by Bruce Feiler

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    At a time when America debates its values and the world braces for religious war, Bruce Feiler, author of the New York Times bestsellers Walking the Bible and Abraham, travels ten thousand miles through the Middle East to examine the question

    Is Religion Tearing Us Apart ... Or Can it Bring Us Together?

    Where God Was Born combines the adventure of a wartime chronicle and an archaeological detective story with an inspiring journey of spiritual exploration. Taking readers to biblical sites not seen by Westerners for decades, it uncovers little-known details about the common roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and affirms the importance of the Bible in today's world.

    Where God Was Born observes that at the birth moment of the biblical religions, all of the faiths took from one another, exchanged ideas, recognized their commonalities, and were open to peaceful coexistence. Offering a rare vision of God that can unite different faiths into a shared allegiance of hope, this is a brave, challenging, and profound work that addresses the most important issues of our time.

    Enhanced CD: Put this CD in your computer to view photographs from Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 13, 2005
    ISBN9780060888572
    Where God Was Born
    Author

    Bruce Feiler

    Bruce Feiler is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including Abraham, Where God Was Born, America's Prophet, The Council of Dads, and The Secrets of Happy Families. He is a columnist for the New York Times, a popular lecturer, and a frequent commentator on radio and television. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and twin daughters.

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    Reviews for Where God Was Born

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    • 3/5
      I bought used copies of this book twice. I forgot which books by Bruce Feiler I'd read. It didn't matter. I couldn't remember a word from the book and I assume that I enjoyed the book both times. For several years I've only been keeping a record of books read during the year. I used to maintain a catalog of all of the books in my library.
    • 4/5
      Feiler's book is a unique combination of travelogue, history, theology, and personal growth. Feiler documents his journeys to Israel, Iraq, and Iran to visit the sites of places mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures. There's a lot of interesting discussion of the Israelites and the connection to land, but how the religion was born only once they were taken from the land. There are also hints that the Babylonian captivity was not as bad as depicted in the bible. Feiler also has an interesting take on David, the flawed hero, who spent many years as a bandit and even collaborated with the enemies of Israel. Perhaps the most remarkable part of the book is when he worships with a Jewish community in Iran who have a surprising amount of religious freedom, something Feiler traces back to the Persian king Cyrus who liberated the Israelites from captivity. He also traces Zoroastrian influences to the Abrahamic religions to this period. In the end, Feiler finds in the Bible a blueprint for religious tolerance and understanding that could be followed today.
    • 5/5
      Continuing the “saga” he started in Walking the Bible, Bruce sets out to explore the Fertile Crescent and nearby areas, especially Iran, to work out what the second half of the Hebrew Bible discussed—the rise of monotheism and the development of Judaism. He also continues to try to discover ways that the 3 Abrahamic Faiths can learn to live together. This book is a wonderful mix of ancient history and current events that sometimes threatened to overwhelm me (I’m must do something about my lack of geographic and political knowledge) but kept me enthralled, educated me in many areas, and gave me much food for thought about my own faith beliefs and how I live them out. The chapters about Iraq and Iran were particularly meaningful to me because until I read this I knew virtually nothing about these areas except what I’ve been reading in the headlines. One thing that struck me—and Bruce points this out near the end of the book—the Biblical stories about these areas tell of many, almost constant wars as the Jews were moving into and living in the Promised Land as they came up against societies who did not share the value system they felt they were getting from God; it seems that in these 20th and 21st Century times once again there seems to be almost constant conflict brought about by differing views about God and how we should serve Him. Is it a vain hope that we can ever get along? According to Bruce the only thing that can save our religions is religion—the moderates need to be more proactive and not allow the fundamentalists destroy any possibility of being able to accommodate each other and learn from each other. Although he puts it differently, Bruce seems to believe as I do that no one religion or faith has a “lock” on The Truth—we all have aspects of Truth but not a final answer. We need each other to come closer to knowing what God would have us all do.
    • 5/5
      Compelling and inspiring, a real accompaniment to Walking the Bible.