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Rating: 
Summary: Mildly Interesting
Review: As I continue my reading to gain better insight into today's conflict with Islamists, I felt it would help to delve into the common roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This book came into view and looked to be a good step in that direction. In fact, it appears to be the very reason Feiler wrote it. "My experience in the region persuaded me that it's possible-maybe even necessary-to gain insight into a contemporary situation by turning away from the present and looking back to its historical source. Especially in matters of faith, even the most modern act is informed by centuries of intermingled belief, blood, and misunderstanding. And in that conflagration, as it has for four millennia, one name echoes behind every conversation. One figure stands at the dawn of every subsequent endeavor. One individual holds the breadth of the past-and perhaps the dimensions of the future-in his life story. Abraham." (9)This book is part travelogue and part self-awakening. Feiler explores the role of Abraham-part myth, part oral history-in the growth of the three great monotheistic religions. He uses an airy, enthusiastic style that bespeaks wonderment and excitement at every step of the way. Unfortunately, Feiler often displays a pendulum-like tendency towards hyperbole that is distracting. For example, he refers to Abraham at one point as "the Albert Einstein of his day" (28). In another section he compares Abraham's life to a three-act Hollywood play (70). Incredibly, he goes on to say God was acting "against [His] natural instincts" in this play. This is an amazing statement that bespeaks a presumed, but inappropriate, familiarity with Him. Sometimes I got the sense that Feiler just likes to hear himself talk. Still, there are interesting insights along the way-the root meaning of "Arab" (21) and the symbolism of male circumcision (68), for example. Also, Muhammad's vision (Islam) stems directly and deliberately from the Jewish interpretation of biblical history (76). Particularly interesting, "Abraham, I was discovering, is not just a gentle man of peace. He's as much a model for fanaticism as he is for moderation...[B]y elevating such conduct to the standard of piety, he stirred in his descendants a similar desire to lash out, to view pain as an arm of belief, and to use brutality to advance their vision of a divine-centered world." (108). His discussion helps to explain religious fanaticism and the willingness of some (unfortunately, far too many these days) for martyrdom. Feiler touches on the roots of the enmity between the followers of these religions, but I found his discussion lacking. A few examples pretty well sum up his view: Early, proto-Christians saw the Jews as having "corrupted the Temple...abandoned the poor, and blasphemed the laws of purity" (138). "Church fathers saw in the misfortune of the Jews more evidence of their own triumph and a vindication for their claim to be the true kingdom of Israel" (152). "Pious Muslims continue to see the Koran as the unfiltered word of God, which is one reason for the devotion it elicits. There is no third-person narrative in the Koran. God speaks directly in all of the text's six thousand two hundred verses" (165). "Islamic midrash, know as tafsir, is considered harsher toward Jews than toward Christians, largely because of the political circumstances during the prophet's lifetime" (174). "For Muslims...Islam didn't supersede Christianity and Judaism, it preceded them. Islam, in fact, was the faith of Abraham, which his descendants twisted for their own purposes" (176). He provides glimmers of the underlying friction, but they don't go far enough. I had flirted with the idea that since Abraham was the common source of these three great religions, perhaps he could also be their source of reconciliation-a common bond that could serve as a rallying point. If he could be, this book doesn't hold out much optimism. Overall I found this book only somewhat enlightening, but certainly not to the degree for which I had hoped. It comes across more as a journal of self-discovery punctuated with exposition of the religious meaning or tradition of various aspects of "Abrahamism" to flesh out a book. I'm pleased to have read it, but with an ever-growing reading backlog, had I known more about this book beforehand I would have passed it by.
Rating: 
Summary: Well organized religious review, idealistic conclusion
Review: Bruce Feiler gives us a book which well documents the next step in exploring Abraham beyond the Genesis account; development of extra biblical tradition and Judaic/Christian/Islamic interpretation down to today. It is very well organized into sections covering the three different faiths. I particularly liked how the author demonstrates each faith's attempt to make Abraham exclusively its own via the rabbinic application of Gen. 26 which has Abraham keeping the law prior to the law being given, the Christian Paul using Gen.15 for "midrash at its most elastic" to establish the righteousness by faith doctrine in the N.T.of Romans 4, and the Islamic sacrificial dream son being Ismael as opposed to Isaac. Feiler accesses some very respectable references as well as random everyday people he encounters as he visits various sites where Abraham walked, but for the most part they offer personal opinion some of which I found little to no relevance in. Other interviews reveal the continuing division, and with some even a non-disguised hatred between the differing faiths. This is why I call Feiler's conclusion, that Abraham as the father of many nations can be the foundation for mutual understanding in our day, youthful idealism. Just the same I would recommend this book for the positives previously cited, as easily readable, and Feiler's end chapter premise worth the reader's drawing their own conclusion on.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh gosh -- the voice
Review: This is a review of the audio book, not the book itself. It's hard for me to evaluate the book itself because Bruce Feiler's reading was rendered so horribly. Memo to Bruce: Leave the reading to the professionals. Just because we can endure your voice for a few minutes on NPR does not mean we want to hear you for six hours on the audio book. Feiler has an odd, whiney voice that is painful to listen to. I don't recommend this audio book
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