Abraham, by Bruce Feiler
The daily accounts of the violence shattering the Holy Land make us wonder if Jerusalem's three religions will ever be able peacefully to coexist there. Bruce Feiler argues that Abraham, the first of the biblical patriarchs, can again become a defining, unifying and hopeful symbol for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Each of these religions has re-created Abraham in its own image to accomplish its own purposes. Now they must focus on him as their common father.
Feiler, the author of a recent bestseller, Walking the Bible--a blend of history, travel and religious and spiritual autobiography--uses a similar formula to paint this interfaith portrait. According to Feiler, 1,400 years after the rise of Muhammad. 2,000 years after the ascent of Christianity, 2,500 years after the origin of Judaism and 4,000 years after the birth of Abraham, the world's three major monotheistic religions are inching toward a posture of open--and equal--deliberation.
The book includes chapters on Abraham's birth and call; his offspring Ishmael and Isaac; the Jewish, Christian and Islamic peoples who have evolved from him; and, finally, his legacy. All we know about Abraham is found in the Bible, and science can neither prove nor disprove the biblical record. Fifty years ago pioneer biblical archaeologist William Albright declared, "There can be little doubt about the substantial historicity of the patriarchal narratives." Today most scholars agree that though Abraham may be a composite rather than an actual individual, he emerged from the Semitic tribes of the Fertile Crescent in the ancient Near East.
