Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths

Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths is Bruce Feiler's personal memoir of his search for religious reconciliation and truth at the root of the world's three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It's interesting, well-written and easy to read but philosophically flawed. Feiler's utopian ecumenical fantasy is that since all three religions share the same point of origin then certainly that would be the starting point of reconciliation. Hence, if you can find the "real Abraham," you can find reconciliation. It's a flawed idea but exactly the kind of pseudo-spiritual exercise that appeals to the secular, liberal agnostic mind. The journey to find the real Abraham is, indeed, a fascinating one and I applaud Feiler's investigation into the traditions and history surrounding Abraham as interpreted by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The problem is his ecumenical/reconciliation approach goes nowhere and his annoyance with those who can't see eye to eye with him comes through. At no point does he realize the problem of religious conflict cannot be solved by merely embracing commonalities. Feiler gets lost in the traditions and interpretations of the three faiths. At one point, he expresses frustration with the Jewish Midrash and the interpretative model it unleashed on the world. As Christian and Muslim theologians developed their own "Midrash" the real Abraham disappeared under the interpretations. It's at this point in the book (after his visit to Qumram) that I am ready to cheer Feiler on. He asks, "Why not just stick to the original story?" And then he lets me down by going off chasing another traditional story or interpretive idea. At no point does he ever go back to Genesis, quote the Bible verses and study the original scriptures. So many strange "experts" are queried by Feiler yet the Genesis chapters covering Abraham are never consulted directly. But this is, after all, a mere intellectual exercise. Going to the source and embracing simple truth is too simple. This journey has to be more "nuanced" than that. Feiler's political correctness sabotages any attempt to analyze his findings in any meaningful way. Feiler is a liberal and approaches those he feels superior to in typical liberal fashion. He makes the secular liberal mistake of being understanding and taking at face value the words of Muslims; of being condescending with Christians; and of being either dismayed or sympathetic toward religious Jews he probably expects will come around to his views eventually. Feiler is completely shocked and caught off guard when he discovers that a Muslim Imam has no interest in his reconciliation fantasy but really does hate Christians and Jews. Didn't Feiler read any history of Islam before he wrote this? Obviously not. I note he never consults an evangelical Christian but only Catholic and Orthodox priests. He should have skipped the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and visited the Garden Tomb instead. By the end of the book, Feiler discards all he has heard to embrace his own Abraham (his own truth, really), a post-modern Abraham who is a lot more like Bruce Feiler than the Abraham of Genesis. Feiler, a liberal Jewish New York journalist who writes books on religion purports to be a seeker but proves to be one of those superior people who finds the "chauvinistic" attitude of religious people to be the cause of mankind's problems. The problem with seekers is they are usually disinterested in truth. Seekers claim their "journey" is evidence of spiritual depth. But chronic seekers are people who are unwilling to commit to truth. They aren't deep, just full of it. Real truth doesn't change for us, we adjust to it. Truth is the real Rock Feiler seeks. But like most seekers, he is looking for truth in all the wrong places. He should go back to Genesis and simply believe what it says.
Liberals, agnostics and ecumenicists will love this book and happily give it five stars. But it is filled with so many Biblical errors and fanciful traditions that I can't recommend it to any serious seeker of spiritual truth. An enjoyable read with some interesting insights? Yes, no doubt. But only as long as you don't swallow the utopian reconciliation kool-aid that Feiler insists is the truth.

I think I listened to this book twice, and I still should listen to it again. Bruce Feiler provides so much fascinating information about the three religions that claim to originate from Abraham -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He carefully compares and contrasts the three without pronouncing a "winner," but instead, he repeatedly demonstrates how all three religions depend on the man (or the myth) called Abraham. I was especially intrigued by his exposition of the contradicting claims about Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael that are made by the three religions. It makes you wonder whether we will ever know the historical "truth." It's much easier to simply accept your own religion's teachings through blind faith.

"So, Professor, what do we know about Abraham?" I asked.

"All we know about Abraham is in the Bible," he says. "In the ground, there is nothing."

This book is Bruce Feiler's best. With no archaeological evidence whatsoever to explore, he embarks on his journey to learn about Abraham by interviewing members of various faiths, and finds himself enmeshed in a bewildering array of legends and claims. Abraham begins life as a polytheist in Ur, but is called by a foreign god, Yahweh, to journey to a new land. The promise by this strange god? "All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you." Various passages in the Bible retain echoes of this polytheism; Abraham is a transitional figure, with a foot in both worlds.

In this new land, two sons are born to Abraham, and God asks Abraham to sacrifice one of them as a test of his faith. So diverse are the legends about Abraham that there is not even agreement over which son is the requested sacrifice, but the Biblical account favors Isaac. This sacrifice--of whichever son--plays a major role in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Feiler writes, "Considering that I set out in search of what I thought was one Abraham at the heart of all three faiths, I was amazed by how much time I spent trying to figure out when one religion's Abraham ended and another began.

The Jewish religion appears to have seniority. "Long before Christians and Muslims set about reinterpreting Abraham, early Jews were the first to perform reconstructive surgery on their purported father." Feiler describes how the Israelites set about codifying their Bible, gathering and recording oral stories. Suddenly, Israel had scripture that described their ancestors, but what difference did that make? They still needed to make that text relevant to their lives. They needed midrash. Qumran provides excellent examples of Jewish midrash, and how Abraham was molded into their image.

Some years later, Christians entered the scene. In Paul's fourteen letters, he refers to Abraham nineteen times, more than any other figure except Jesus. But the idea that Abraham belongs to all humanity, which appears at least in spirit in Paul's letters, soon begins to dissipate. Matthew traces Jesus' lineage through Isaac to Abraham. God's sacrifice of his Son is compared directly to Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham, says John, knew about Jesus thousands of years before Jesus was born. Abraham has been appropriated to the Christian side.

Hundreds of years later, Muslims trace their relevancy through Abraham's other son, Ishmael. Ibn Kathir accuses Jews of dishonesty and slander, claiming they introduced Isaac into the story, even though the Bible says Abraham went to sacrifice his only son, his favored son. For Muslims, Ishmael was the favored son, so he was the one Abraham took to sacrifice. As Feiler interviews a Muslim leader, he is told, "Abraham is the father of one religion, and that religion is Islam." "So what will happen to me?" Feiler asked. "You'll die," came the answer.

Thoroughly rattled, Feiler retreats. His book has become something entirely different than what he set out to write.

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Bruce Feiler lives life to the fullest. He learns. He travels. He experiences deeply spiritual journeys. He writes well, and using his literary skills along with the other things noted above, Feiler produces books that take us with him on each grandiose voyage. His book, Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths, does not disappoint.

As in his other works, Walking the Bible and Where God Was Born, Feiler openly identifies himself as a man of Jewish faith raised in the American South. His cultural context clearly noted, he then dives into the murky waters of searching for truth. Abraham may well be the most difficult project for Feiler as a man of faith. He painstakingly notes numerous ways in which followers of his own ethnic and religious tradition has molded sacred texts and crafted oral tradition so as to support their own agenda. He treats commentators and interpreters of Islam and Christianity in like fashion.

Across the narrative, the book gives a snapshot of Islam, Christianity and the Jewish religion with emphasis on how each claims a foundation in the patriarch Abraham.

Abraham provides a close investigation of the multifaceted and crafty, traveling monotheist. Using the texts of the Hebrew Bible, the Koran and numerous commentaries, Brue Feiler struggles with the dualism of Abraham, as both a unifier and a divider. Unquestionably for the majority of the world's religious followers, Abraham stands as a father of polemic children, making him the father of three international and contentious religions. Indeed Abraham is the father of the faith. Given all who claim lineage, Abraham's promise of offspring numbering as many as the grains of sand came to fruition. Can the father figure Abraham heal his larger than life, fractured and estranged family as it exists today?

too long ago to remember

Great Book

I have read only three chapters for a study group. Enjoying it so far, especially as a Christian reading a Jewish point of view.

Very thorough study of the faiths of the region and their relationship to Abraham. Study of the land as well as politics. Author's goal seems to be to bring the people to accept each other and bring acceptance and peace.

Very interesting book and an easy read.

Enlightening read about Abraham.