Where God Was Born: A Journey by Land to the Roots of Religion

420 Pages·2005·1.37 MB·English

by  Bruce Feiler

WHERE GOD
WAS BORN
WHERE GOD
WAS BORN
a journey by land to
the roots of religion
BRUCE FEILER
For Linda
who gives me the courage to go forth
and the reason to come home

He has shown you, O man, what is good,
And what the Lord requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness,
And to walk humbly with your God.
—Micah 6:8

C
ONTENTS
Introduction
Be Strong and Very Courageous 1
BOOK I
Land
1 Man of Blood 35
2 Your Throne Shall Be Established Forever 60
3 The House of the Lord 91
BOOK II
Exile
1 In the Garden of Eden 125
2 Come, Let Us Build Us a City 157
3 By the Rivers of Babylon 181
4 City of Peace 210
5 A Future with Hope 239
C o n t e n t s
BOOK III
Diaspora
1 Let There Be Light 267
2 His Anointed One 294
3 A Crown of Beauty 320
Conclusion
With Gladness and Joy 343
O Give Thanks 383
Words of Peace and Truth 387
Index 391
About the Author
Also by Bruce Feiler
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
x
I
NTRODUCTION
B S V
E TRONG AND ERY
C
OURAGEOUS
I
feel the tension before I know its source. My legs begin to
quiver,then shake. Soon my whole body is quaking with vibra-
tion, or is it fear? Up above, the whir begins to build into a
thudding bass beat. Cold air blows through the cracks and up my
spine. I’m shivering. My feet are trembling. “Are you ready?”
The sound in my ears is crackling, and a bit wicked. I nod.
Within seconds the shaking becomes overwhelming, the thump-
ing dense, and the pull so strong it seems ready to suck my head
off. I feel as if I’m in a full-body migraine. And then, just as sud-
denly, quiet. The sound dissolves, my body relaxes. I’m in the air,
in a war. I’m at peace.
The helicopter pauses for a second, then accelerates into a gen-
tle glide. Down below, the landing pad disappears, and rows of or-
ange and avocado trees poke up toward the sky. I see the hairs on a
donkey’s ears. Our nose is tipped, we’re flying, yet we’re not mov-
ing very quickly. Lifting off in a helicopter is like drifting off to
sleep: You leave one realm and shift into another; the features
1