Editorial Reviews and
DVD Information about
Walking the Bible
Product Description
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. 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.Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books including Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR and is a contributing editor at Gourmet and Parade.System Requirements:Running Time 168 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MISCELLANEOUS/SPECIAL INTEREST Rating: NR UPC: 783421409194 Manufacturer No: WG40919
Amazon.com
Bruce Feiler has written books about a variety of subjects, from teaching English in Japan (Learning to Bow) to joining the circus (Under the Big Top), but with Walking the Bible, he mostly eschews the whimsy and humor of his previous work in favor of something considerably more profound: an epic search across the Middle East for the locations of the stories found in the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Feiler's trek yields some fascinating revelations (so to speak): The Garden of Eden, in Mesopotamia, was mostly water. In order to accommodate the 18,000 or so animals it took on board, Noah's Ark would have been half the size of the Titanic, with an entire deck just for the 600 tons of manure the creatures deposited. The body of water that Moses parted might not have been the Red Sea, but rather a shallow, reedy lake. And the burning bush, which monks at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai say still lives within the walls of their sanctuary, has blossoms like roses and fruits like raspberries. Yet while the prospect of visiting the actual places where Biblical events took place is an intriguing one, the results are often inconclusive at best. When Feiler climbs Mt. Ararat, long thought to be the final resting place of the Ark, a local known as "the mayor of the mountain" boasts that he knows where the remnants are but refuses to show them to the visitor. Other locations remain elusive, rooted as much in myth as in fact; there are 22 possible candidates for Mt. Sinai, where Moses was said to have received the Ten Commandments from God. Feiler is no fundamentalist, and he wrestles with the imbalance between science and belief. But in the end, matters of physical evidence and proof become relatively unimportant. "The Bible transcends science," he says; it is the "larger meaning" that matters. Clearly, his sojourn had a profound impact on his faith. --Sam Graham
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Customer Reviews for
Walking the Bible
Walk through history and look for the presence of God
I felt like I was attending a well done presentation at graduate school. It was wonderful not to have to filter out theological, archaeological, or linguistic jargon. It was given as smoothly as a long talk on the phone to a friend. Very nice job.
It felt like there were no biases here, just an open seeking for the truth, and matching the evidence to the Bible, to the local legends. This gave a more complete picture than someone with a theological axe to grind, be it Fundamentalist, Atheist, or Nihilist. (a religion is an organised system of belief or dis-belief) One often wonders if the speaker can be believed in those cases, unless one is already in agreement with their platform. And there is really no need for a platform unless you need to con people like a politician. Let the facts speak and let people decide if its enough.
The guide showed cultural and religious respect to all the peoples he met, in every region. This went from participating in a wedding dance at the slope of Mt. Ararat, to sharing hospitality in a Bedouin tent, to asking lodging at a desert monastery.
I think the native people responded naturally, because he was relaxed, not coming across like a know-it-all professor out to prove his thesis. So he also got access to places Westerners generally don't. For example - passage through the military zones to reach Ararat, and past the armed guards to the Dome of the Rock. It helped that he was "PBS". They seemed to like PBS.
It was sad to hear how the lands have changed since Bible days, like Egypt losing trees, and Israel being near-desert all over. The trek really helps to make the Bible personal, as it did for the host.
There is something about getting to know the place and the people that helps to connect with the past. We lose so much of our connectedness in modern "civilized" countries, where you may not even know your heritage 2 generations back.
This is valuable for re-connecting to the human family, as well as connecting humans to their relationship with YHWH, God of the Bible.Walking the Bible
A profound journey
This three-part series, based on Bruce Feiler's book of the same name, takes the viewer on a fascinating and profound journey (literally) through the first five books of the Bible. While Mr. Feiler isn't some fundamentalist, he's not some die-hard skeptic either. He went on this journey through Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey to better understand the Bible, to get a deeper sense of spirituality, and to reconnect with his faith, not to try to disprove everything in the Bible at every turn or to try to find scientific explanations for everything. His enthusiasm for the subject was very infectious, and it was so obvious that as the journey progressed, his sense of wonder and connection to the Divine, history, and the land were increasing. Among the places he visits are the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; Petra, Jordan, where some believe the Israelites to have encamped for 38 of the years of their journey in the wilderness; a place in Turkey where the Garden of Eden is believed to have been; and a 1,500 year old monastery in Egypt, which he estimates has held about 3 million services since its creation and which has a wondrous library. In addition to really making the people, places, and history of the Bible come to life instead of just being words on a page and far-off events in far-off places, it's also inspiring how cordially he got along with people of different faiths along the way. He lodged, worshipped, ate and drank, and talked with Muslims, Jews, and Christians, really achieving the goal of his archaeologist companion Avner Goren, building bridges of peace and understanding instead of avoiding different people and never finding any common ground. Mr. Feiler also ultimately concludes that trying too hard to find a scientific explanation for or historical proof of everything can take away a lot of what the Bible is really all about, a sense of wonder, faith, and spirituality. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer! Maybe we'll see a follow-up one day, in which he geographically explores the rest of the Bible.Walking the Bible
Walking the Bible review
I saw this originally on PBS and I wanted to get the DVD for my library. This show made me stop and go back and reread many of the stories I had learned in sunday school. Instead of reading words on a page, Bruce Feiler shows you a picture of where it is believed that the events occurred. And what is shown is a lot different that what we've seen in the movies. My only complaint is that it is only 3 hours long. It could have been much longer. When you consider all of the junk that is put on TV and into movies and mini-series, this show is inspirational and very educational.Walking the Bible
THEY EDITED THE DVD RELEASE.
I FIRST WATCHED THIS PRODUCTION ON TELEVISION. WHY WAS IT EDITED? ONE PARTICULAR PART EDITED WAS THE DISCUSSION OF THE FIRE AND BRIMSTONE DESTROYING SODOM AND GOMORAH. INSTEAD, YOU ONLY GET A FEW SECONDS SHOWING A SALT PILLAR.Walking the Bible
A very interesting documentary!
What great perspective and a nice approach. Interesting for all religions and even those with no inclination towards religion at all.Walking the Bible
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