Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses

by Bruce Feiler

Overview

“An instant classic. . . . A pure joy to read.” —Washington Post Book World

Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible presents one man’s epic journey- by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel- through the greatest stories ever told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler’s inspiring odyssey will forever change your view of history’s most legendary events.

The stories in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah, come alive as Feiler searches across three continents for the stories and heroes shared by Christians and Jews. You’ll visit the slopes of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed, trek to the desert outpost where Abraham first heard the words of God, and scale the summit where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Using the latest archeological research, Feiler explores how physical location affects the larger narrative of the Bible and ultimately realizes how much these places, as well as his experience, have affected his faith. A once-in-a-lifetime journey, Walking the Bible offers new insights into the roots of our common faith and uncovers fresh answers to the most profound questions of the human spirit.

“Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.” —Los Angeles Times

“An exciting, well-told story informed by Feiler’s boundless intellectual curiosity . . . [and] sense of adventure.” —Miami Herald

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062336507
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/18/2014
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	231,853
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

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.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

October 25, 1964

Place of Birth:

Savannah, Georgia

Education:

B.A., Yale University, 1987; M.Phil. in international relations, Cambridge University, 1991

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

In the Land of Canaan

The guard eyed me squarely as we approached his post, moving one hand from his belt to his walkie-talkie. His other arm rested on a rifle. He had gel in his hair and three stripes on his sleeve. "Yes?" he said, arching his eyebrows.

It was 9:35 on a late-autumn morning when Avner and I strode toward the security checkpoint at the Damia Bridge, an Israeli-Jordanian border crossing about thirty miles north of Jericho. We had driven up from Jerusalem that morning to start the next phase of our journey, visiting sites in the Promised Land associated with Abraham, his son Isaac, and his son Jacob. Together they form the holy triumvirate of biblical forefathers, the patriarchs, from the Greek words patria, meaning family or clan, and arche, meaning ruler. The Five Books describe several forefathers who preceded these men, notably Adam and Noah, as well as many who follow. But the three patriarchs receive special distinction because it's to them -- of all humanity -- whom God grants his sacred covenant of territory, and through them that the relationship between the people of Israel and the Promised Land is forged.

The story of the patriarchs takes up the final thirty-nine chapters of Genesis and covers the entire geographical spectrum of the ancient Near East, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, and back again, all within several verses. For Avner and me, this scope posed a challenge. Soon after our return from Turkey, we huddled in the living room of his home in Jerusalem and set about devising an itinerary. It was a sunny, comfortable room, with whitewashed walls, bedouin rugs fromthe Sinai, and pictures of his two children, as well as the two daughters of his second wife, Edie, a Canadian who served as office manager for the Jerusalem bureau of the New York Times. Avner sat at the table with his computer, online Bible, countless topographical maps, dozens of archaeological texts, and the handheld GPS device, while I paced the floor.

Our most immediate problem was that with no archaeological evidence to relate any of the events in the Five Books to specific places, we were left to the often-contradictory claims of history, myth, legend, archaeobiology, paleozoology, and faith. There are nearly two dozen candidates for Mount Sinai, for example, and nearly half a dozen for the Red Sea. There are countless theories about which path the Israelites took through the Sinai. In addition, we faced the competing constraints of religious wars, political wars, terrorism, climate, budget, and health, as well as the desire to have fun.

Ultimately we settled on a guiding principle: Our goal was to place the biblical stories in the historical and cultural context of the ancient Near East. Time and again, rather than focus on every story in the text, or even every interesting story in the text, we decided to concentrate on stories that could be enhanced by being in the places themselves. The story of Jacob and his brother Esau wrestling in Rebekah's womb, for example, while fascinating on many levels, struck us as not likely to be enriched by traveling to a specific location. The stories of Sodom and Gomorrah, by contrast, and the crossing of the Red Sea might easily take on new meanings by visiting their settings. In Judaism, the traditional process of analyzing scripture is called midrash, from the Hebrew term meaning search out or investigate; in Christianity, this process is referred to as exegesis, from the Latin word meaning the same thing. In effect, what Avner and I undertook was topographical midrash, a geographical exegesis of the Bible.

In that spirit, we decided to begin our travels in Israel with a bit of a long shot. Our destination this morning was Shechem, the first place Abraham stops in Canaan and the next place the Bible mentions after Harran. The text makes no mention of what route Abraham, his wife, Sarah (she's actually called Sarai at the moment, as he is still called Abram), and his nephew Lot took to Canaan. Based on road patterns in the ancient world, one of the most logical places for him to cross into the Promised Land would have been a natural ford in the Jordan River just south of the Sea of Galilee, where the Damia Bridge is located today. Though we were already in the Promised Land, we decided to ask if the Israeli Army would let us walk across the bridge to the Jordanian side, then walk back, seeing what Abraham might have seen. Avner explained this idea to the sergeant, who remained at attention. After hearing the explanation, the officer removed his walkie-talkie and relayed our request.

The border post was astir that morning. It was a small crossing -- the Jordan here is narrow enough for a horse to jump -- but tidy, decorated with cacti, olive trees, and oleanders. The gate was blue and white. Every few minutes a Palestinian truck would approach, ferrying oranges, honeydew, or polished limestone. The driver would dismount and hand over his papers, which the guards would stamp and return. Then the guards would roll open the gate, the truck would pass, and the whole process would start again. We were just becoming lulled by the routine, when suddenly we heard static on the walkie-talkie. The sergeant removed it and held it for us to hear: "I don't care if they write a book about the Bible," the voice said. "I don't care if they rewrite the Bible itself. But they're not going to do it in a military zone, and they're not going to do it on my bridge."

The sergeant replaced his walkie-talkie and shrugged. "Sorry," he said, "only Palestinians."

We returned to the highway and turned west toward the mountains. Shechem is located at the northern edge of the central spine of mountains that traverse much of Israel and the West Bank...

Walking the Bible. Copyright © by Bruce Feiler. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: And God Said
	Go Forth	3
Book I	God of Our Fathers
1.	In the Land of Canaan	39
2.	Take Now Thy Son	63
3.	A Pillow of Stones	93
Book II	A Coat of Many Colors
1.	On the Banks of the Nile	123
2.	And They Made Their Lives Bitter	147
3.	A Wall of Water	165
Book III	The Great And Terrible Wilderness
1.	A Land of Fiery Snakes and Scorpions	199
2.	On Holy Ground	227
3.	The God-Trodden Mountain	249
Book IV	The Land That Devours Its People
1.	Wandering	277
2.	And the Earth Opened Its Mouth	304
3.	The Land of Milk and Honey	328
Book V	Toward the Promised Land
1.	The Wars of the Lord	351
2.	Half as Old as Time	373
3.	Sunrise in the Palm of the Lord	394
	And the People Believed	429
	Take These Words	431
	Index	437

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

Walking the Bible is Bruce Feiler's engrossing 10,000-mile journey and archaeological odyssey -- by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel -- through the Holy Land. A fifth-generation Jew from Savannah, Georgia, Feiler was overcome with the urge to reconnect with the Bible, musing upon the original seeker, Abraham, as his inspiration:

"Abraham was not originally the man he became. He was not an Israelite, he was not a Jew. He was not even a believer in God -- at least initially. He was a traveler, called by some voice not entirely clear that said: Go head to this land, walk along this route, and trust what you will find."

Along with noted Israeli archaeologist Avner Goren, who acted as Feiler's trusted guide, partner, mentor, and sidekick, Feiler embarks on painstakingly retracing through the desert the Pentatuech, the first five books of the Old Testament. Traveling through Turkey, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, and Jordan, three continents, and four war zones, Feiler converses freely with Bedouins and religious pilgrims alike. He visits actual places referenced in the Bible, including Mount Ararat, where it is believed that Noah's Ark landed after the flood, Saint Catherine's Monastery, the site of the burning bush where Moses first heard the words of God, and Mount Nebo, where Moses overlooked the Promised Land.

In engaging and lucid prose, Feiler continually reflects on how the geography of the land affects the narrative of the Bible, and pointedly wonders whether the Bible is just an abstraction, or a living, breathing entity. Ultimately, Feiler concludes in Walking the Bible that the Bible "is foreverapplicable, it's always now…It lives because it never dies."

The land that Feiler explores on his journey is timeless. Walking the Bible is not only a "good read," it's worth thinking about and savoring the people and places Feiler visits. This Study Guide is designed to help book groups explore and reflect on Walking the Bible through discussion. The Study Guide helps groups trace the large themes Feiler touches upon in his travels -- feelings about the land, its people, their history, the Bible -- and Feiler's own experiences on his journey. Whether you've journeyed to the Middle East or are content to remain an "armchair traveler," Walking the Bible is a fabulous adventure through a timeless world. And its accompanying Study Guide will deepen your experience and understanding of the region.

Discussion Questions

Feiler traveled to many places as he journeyed through the sites found in the five books of Moses. Which one did you find the most interesting or inspiring? Why?

Of the many facts, stories, and history Feiler tells about the Bible and its geography, what did you find the most surprising? In other words, what did you learn about the Bible you didn't know before?

In the chapter, "Wall of Water," Feiler writes, "As much as [Avner] knew about the Bible, he seemed to know more about the nature of travel, about how to go to places, leave a bit of yourself behind, take a bit of the place with you, and in the process emerge with something bigger -- and experience, a connection, a story" (page 192). What do you think was Feiler's most significant "experience" or "connection" in his walk through the Bible? Why?

Describe Avner's connection to and feelings for Sinai.

What is Feiler's purpose in Walking the Bible? Does he accomplish that purpose? How?

Describe how the desert figured in Feiler's travels -- what he found there, its influence on the lives of those who live in the desert now and on those who lived in biblical times.

Who do you think was the most fascinating person Feiler met in his travels? Why?

In "Sunrise in the Palm of God," Feiler writes, "[The] more profound change the journey brought about in me…allowed me to turn off my mind occasionally and open myself up to feelings-spiritual, emotional, divine, even imaginary -- that might innately connect me to the world….after months of traveling around the Middle East, I felt newly aware of the emotional power of certain places, the essential meridians of history that exist just underneath the topsoil…" (page 420). Have you ever traveled to a place that connected you emotionally to place in the way Feiler describes? If so, describe your experience. If not, where do you imagine such a place might be for you?

Describe Avner and how Feiler relies on him.

Describe some of the contrasts Feiler experiences between the ancient biblical world and the modern world of the Middle.

In "Go Forth," Feiler writes, "Some journeys we choose to go on, I realized; some journeys choose us" (page 35). Talk about a time when you felt compelled to begin a journey -- a time when you felt the journey chose you.

In "In the Land of Canaan," Feiler writes about meeting Fern Dobuler, an Israeli who was originally from New York. Fern says, "When my kids used to go on field trips in America, they went to a museum, to the Empire State Building. Here when you go on a field trip they drop you off in the middle of the nowhere and you walk, for hours and hours and hours" (page 49). Discuss the difference between how Americans and Middle Easternsers feel about or experience the land.

Contrast the differences Feiler experiences in Israel and with his experiences in Egypt.

Discuss the similarities and differences between St. Catherine's monastery in the chapter, "On Holy Ground," and Kibbutz Sdeh Borer in the chapter, "The Land of Milk and Honey."

How did Feiler's travels change your mind about the Middle East, the people who live there and their history? Or how did Feiler's travels support what you already think about the Middle East? Contact the Author

Bruce Feiler is the New York Times best-selling author of six books, an award-winning journalist and speaker. Over the last ten years he has traveled to over sixty countries, on five continents, immersing himself in different cultures and experiences. The result is six acclaimed books that take the reader along on his fascinating adventures and bring other worlds vividly to life. For Feiler's complete bio, as well as excerpts and reviews of all his books, and information about his speaking schedule around the country, please visit his website. Bruce Feiler also takes email comments directly from readers at his site and is pleased to answer questions from study groups.

Bruce Feiler's newest book Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths (William Morrow, September 17, 2002) describes his personal quest to discover the man at the heart of the world's three monotheistic religions -- and of today's deadliest conflicts. The book, the first-ever interfaith portrait of Abraham, will be published this fall simultaneously in numerous countries around the world. In addition, William Morrow, Bruce Feiler, and other partner organizations are organizing a unique and unprecedented week of national interfaith dialogue -- from Friday, November 8th to Sunday, November 18th -- in which they hope to have at least 100 ABRAHAM SALONS running simultaneously across the country. For information on how to join this effort, please contact Bruce directly at his website.

For Further Reading

The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter; God: A Biography by Jack Miles; The Bible as It Was by James Kugel.

Reference

The HarperCollins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, annotated by the Society of Biblical Literature; Harper's Bible Dictionary, edited by Paul J. Achtemeier with the Society of Biblical Literature; Harper's Bible Commentary, edited by James L. Mays with the Society of Biblical Literature; The Harper Atlas of the Bible, edited by James Pritchard.

Interviews

Exclusive Author Essay
Some books come from a deep-seated urge. Others come from an unexpected moment in time. Walking the Bible comes from both.

First, the deep-seated urge. Like many, after leaving home at the end of high school, I lost touch with the religious community I had known as a child. I slowly disengaged from the sticky attachment that comes from a regular cycle of readings, prayers, and services. I separated myself from the texts as well. And ultimately I woke up one morning and realized I had no connection to the Bible. It was a book to me now, one that sat on the shelf, gathering dust on its gilded pages. The Bible was part of the past -- an old way of learning, a crutch. I wanted to be part of the future.

Over more than a decade of living and working abroad I found that ideas, and places, became more real to me when I experienced them firsthand. But even as I traveled, I found that certain feelings from my past kept resurfacing. There was a conversation going on in the world that I wasn't participating in. References would pop up in books or movies that I couldn't fully comprehend. I would read entire newspaper articles about wars I couldn't explain. At weddings and funerals the words I heard and recited were just that -- words. They were not part of me in any way. And yet I wanted them to be. Suddenly, almost overnight as I recall, I wanted these words to have meaning again.

No sooner had I made this realization than I discovered how daunting it seemed. For starters, the idea of reading the Bible from cover to cover seemed undoable. The text was too long, its language too remote. I went to the bookstore seeking help, but found 50 different translations, with assorted concordances, interpretations, and daily inspirations. None of the classes I considered tackled these questions either. I was left with the book, which sat by my bed for months on end, suffering from renewed neglect.

Then I went to Jerusalem. On my first day I joined an old friend, Fred, who was giving a tour to some students. We stopped on a promenade overlooking the city. "Over there," said Fred, "is Har Homa [a controversial settlement]. And over there is the cliff where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac." Real or not, that piece of information hit me like a bolt of Cecil B. DeMille lightning. It had never occurred to me that that story -- so timeless, so abstract -- might have happened in a place that was identifiable, no less one I could visit.

In subsequent weeks I had the same experience in a variety of places. In the Middle East, the Bible is not some abstraction. It's a living, breathing entity unencumbered by the sterilization of time. That was the Bible I wanted to know, and almost immediately I realized that the only way to find it was to walk along those lines myself. I would take this ancient book and approach it with contemporary methods of learning -- traveling, talking, experiencing. In other words, I would enter the Bible as if it were any other world and seek to become a part of it. Once inside, I would walk in its footsteps, meet its characters, and ask its questions in an effort to understand why its stories had become so timeless and once again so vitally important to me. (Bruce Feiler)

Editorial Reviews

An instant classic. . . . A pure joy to read.” — Washington Post Book World

“Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.” — Los Angeles Times

“An exciting, well-told story informed by Feiler’s boundless intellectual curiosity...[and] sense of adventure.” — Miami Herald

“An eloquently spiritual pilgrimage.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Feiler’s accomplishment, and it’s a profound one, is to confront his idea of God...” — San Francisco Chronicle

“An inspirational oasis. . . . From the barren land, Feiler emerges, like those whose paths he traces, renewed and transformed.” — People

“An enthusiastic travelogue…Feiler delivers a wealth of information in an accessible and entertaining format.” — New York Times Book Review

“[Feiler] is an excellent guide...He has...invested [this book] with a keen intellectual curiosity.” — New York Times

“Bruce Feiler went looking for proof. He learned that proof doesn’t matter.” — USA Today

“Evocative, descriptive, emotionally honest, and often funny.” — Christian Science Monitor

“Feiler, not unlike Mark Twain, brings a sharp sense of humor to the whole endeavor.” — Los Angeles Times

“A powerful and spiritual pilgrimage…in every way, marvelous if not indispensable reading for anyone remotely interested in the Torah.” — Chicago Sun-Times

“Feiler’s accomplishment, and it’s a profound one, is to confront his idea of God as spoken to him by the Bible...His trek through biblical history evolves into something far more fundamental, an intellectual and spiritual crusade to find common bond with the lands of his forebears.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“[Feiler] is an excellent guide and a worthy wrestler. He has put an enormous amount of information into this book and has invested it with a keen intellectaul curiosity.” — New York Times

“Evocative, descriptive, emotionally honest, and often funny...Feiler’s most compelling writing is by far about the desert. For anyone wanting to know something of its terrifying strangeness, haunting beauty, and stark spirituality, as well as its possibilities for the future of Israel and the region.” — Christian Science Monitor

“Ranks among the great spiritual autobiographies...Feiler, a superb narrartor and storyteller with a gentle, ironic sense of humor, also possesses a potent intellect that at moments blazes forth, illuminating everything in its path.” — Washington Post Book World

“The perfect read for people who are interested in the Bible and the Middle East.” — Jerusalem Post

“Anyone who cares about the Bible or history or mankind should be grateful to bruce Feiler. His curiosity is prodigious, his intellect sharp, his legs willing to climb and climb.” — Stephen J. Dubner, author of Turbulent Souls

“An engrossing story...Anyone planning to visit the Middle East should definitely take at least two books with them-the Bible and this one.” — Calgary Herald

“A work of magic...[succeeds] in making the Bible exciting.” — Angelican Herald

“Goren and Feiler make for two of the most entertaining traveling buddies since Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.” — San Francisco Jewish Bulletin

“Walking The Bible is armchair reading with a spiritual bent...Feiler writes with a sense of poetry about the land.” — The Jewish Week

“This book belongs on the shelves next to the classics.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Anyone planning to visit the Middle East should take two books with them—the Bible and this one.” — Calgary Herald

“How on earth did Bruce Feiler come up with so many new, insightful, witty, and touching things to say...?” — Melissa Fay Greene, author of Praying for Sheetrock

“Full of wonder and awe, yet written from a perspective of reasoned inquiry.” — Booklist (*starred review)

From the Publisher

Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.

|Los Angeles Times

An exciting, well-told story informed by Feiler’s boundless intellectual curiosity...[and] sense of adventure.

Miami Herald

Evocative, descriptive, emotionally honest, and often funny.

Christian Science Monitor

An enthusiastic travelogue…Feiler delivers a wealth of information in an accessible and entertaining format.

New York Times Book Review

An eloquently spiritual pilgrimage.

Entertainment Weekly

Bruce Feiler went looking for proof. He learned that proof doesn’t matter.

USA Today

Feiler’s accomplishment, and it’s a profound one, is to confront his idea of God...

San Francisco Chronicle

An instant classic. . . . A pure joy to read.

Washington Post Book World

An inspirational oasis. . . . From the barren land, Feiler emerges, like those whose paths he traces, renewed and transformed.

People

[Feiler] is an excellent guide...He has...invested [this book] with a keen intellectual curiosity.

New York Times

How on earth did Bruce Feiler come up with so many new, insightful, witty, and touching things to say...?

Melissa Fay Greene

Goren and Feiler make for two of the most entertaining traveling buddies since Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

San Francisco Jewish Bulletin

A powerful and spiritual pilgrimage…in every way, marvelous if not indispensable reading for anyone remotely interested in the Torah.

Chicago Sun-Times

An engrossing story...Anyone planning to visit the Middle East should definitely take at least two books with them-the Bible and this one.

Calgary Herald

Walking The Bible is armchair reading with a spiritual bent...Feiler writes with a sense of poetry about the land.

The Jewish Week

Full of wonder and awe, yet written from a perspective of reasoned inquiry.

Booklist (*starred review)

Anyone who cares about the Bible or history or mankind should be grateful to bruce Feiler. His curiosity is prodigious, his intellect sharp, his legs willing to climb and climb.

Stephen J. Dubner

A work of magic...[succeeds] in making the Bible exciting.

Angelican Herald

The perfect read for people who are interested in the Bible and the Middle East.

Jerusalem Post

A powerful and spiritual pilgrimage…in every way, marvelous if not indispensable reading for anyone remotely interested in the Torah.

Chicago Sun-Times

Bruce Feiler went looking for proof. He learned that proof doesn’t matter.

USA Today

Feiler’s accomplishment, and it’s a profound one, is to confront his idea of God as spoken to him by the Bible...His trek through biblical history evolves into something far more fundamental, an intellectual and spiritual crusade to find common bond with the lands of his forebears.

San Francisco Chronicle

An exciting, well-told story informed by Feiler’s boundless intellectual curiosity...[and] sense of adventure.

Miami Herald

The Barnes & Noble Review
Walking the Bible merits a place on any intellectually minded traveler's bookshelf simply on the strength of its premise: a compelling journey of 10,000 miles across the Near and Middle East, in search of the locales at which many of the Old Testament's key events took place. Meticulously researched and documented, the book draws upon a wide range of canonical and secular research on the explicit geography of the Bible, and it offers readers a well-rounded look at both the holiest and most ignored biblical spots on earth.

The guiding principle of Bruce Feiler's quest, on which he was accompanied by legendary biblical expert Avner Goren, was to place biblical stories in the historical and cultural context of the ancient Near East. Drawing upon the traditional Hebrew and Latin terms for investigating and analyzing the content of the Bible, Feiler explains, "What Avner and I undertook was a topographical midrash, a geographical exegesis of the Bible."

What may sound like a high-minded, scholarly journey rooted in logic and reason also turned out to be a richly detailed, complex, inspirational tale of spiritual regeneration. The combination of personal narrative, harrowing travelogue, spiritual quest, and modern politics places Walking the Bible among the most remarkable works of travel literature. An accomplished author, Feiler makes what would otherwise be an excellent core historical travel text an incredibly moving, profound examination of the human relationship with God.

Many travel writers use their adventures to seek answers to philosophical questions about identity, society, and humanity. Feiler's desert trek is an attempt to prove the validity of otherworldly, sacred religious beliefs by establishing and acknowledging terrestrial proof that biblical stories are, in fact, history, thereby solidifying the spiritual and experiential connection between them. While many before him have made pilgrimages to holy sites in order to reaffirm a connection with God, Feiler seeks to bestow a similar sanctity upon the living, tenable spaces on earth that figure prominently in the great Judeo-Christian saga.

The relevance of this mission is confirmed repeatedly throughout his travels. Feiler begins his book by writing of the Jewish patriarch Abraham, "He was a traveler, called by some voice not entirely clear that said: Go, head to this land, walk along this route, and trust what you will find." That ancient, mythical call is a spirit-rouser for the author, and for the reader. While traveling in Israel, Feiler learns about the biblically sanctioned connection between Jews and their land when an American settler in the West Bank tells him that "to walk in the land of Israel is a holy thing to do." Ultimately, Feiler himself grows increasingly attached to the land upon which he treads, writing, "I began to feel a certain pull from the landscape.... It was a feeling of gravity." With that, Feiler's connection between abstract spirituality and terra firma is made profound, both for himself and for the reader lucky enough to take this remarkable journey with him. (Emily Burg)

bn.com

Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.

Los Angeles Times

Armchair reading with a spiritual bent...Feiler writes with a sense of poetry about the land.

Jewish Week

A work of magic...[succeeds] in making the Bible exciting.

Anglican Herald

Mr. Feiler, in taking us through various harsh and craggy landscapes whose very appearance gleams with biblical associations, proves to be an excellent guide and a worthy wrestler. He has put an enormous amount of information into this book and has invested it with a keen intellectual curiosity, so that we learn a great deal about the spiritual meaning of the Bible and the centuries of speculation about it as a historical document. Most of all, Mr. Feiler achieves for his readers what he set out to achieve for himself: to ground the Bible in real soil and in real history and, in so doing, demonstrate its amazing vitality.
— New York Times

Richard Bernstein

Prolific author Feiler has turned from his earlier subject (clowning, in Under the Big Top) to more serious fare: the Bible and the Middle East. Jewish author Feiler offers himself here as a pilgrim, walking through biblical lands and interviewing individuals from many religious traditions and walks of life. He reads the stories of the Pentateuch in the places they are thought to have happened, he records the latest archaeological understandings of the Bible, and he wrestles with his own faith. Of course, contemporary politics sneaks into the story, too; Arab-Israeli conflicts are hard to avoid when one is writing about the biblical Canaan. Feiler is an accomplished wordsmith. When he describes the "smells of dawn cinnamon, cardamom, a whiff of burnt sugar," the reader is transported to Turkey. He has the rare talent of being able to write in the second person, a gift he uses sparingly here: "Light. The first thing you notice about the desert is the light." In the sections of the book where his content is banal (readers can only take so many descriptions of dusty museums, bustling streets and breathtaking sunsets), Feiler's prose carries the narrative through. This book belongs on the shelves next to classics such as Wendy Orange's Coming Home to Jerusalem. Readers who find Westerners' encounters with the Holy Land enchanting will cherish this book. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Feiler, a frequent contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered and the author of four previous books, including Learning To Bow and Dreaming Out Loud, wanted to reconnect with the Bible. In this work, he sets off on a personal hegira by camel, foot, jeep, and rowboat to trace the books of Moses, believing the stories to be the greatest ever told. Feiler reminds listeners that human nature is constant; favoritism and family problems are always with us. Covering 10,000 miles, he travels over three continents, through five countries, and four war zones. As did his favorite biblical characters, he crosses the Red Sea, climbs Mount Sinai, and interviews other pilgrims as well as Bedouins. Feiler searches for the answer to the question, "Is the Bible just an abstraction, or is it a living, breathing entity?" His spiritual quest is not without challenges; his research and proposed trek force him to do archaeological detective work, and the war zones force him into unexpected adventures. Walking the Bible combines scholarship, adventure, and heart. Nourishing to the spirit and the arm chair traveler, this is recommended for all libraries with large audio collections. Pam Kingsbury, Florence, AL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"An inspirational oasis…From the barren land, Feiler emerges, like those whose paths he traces, renewed and transformed."

People Magazine