Abraham: In Search of the Father of Civilisation

By Bruce Feiler

I started to read this book during the same week that the furore over publication of the cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed hit the headlines. Watching events ion the middle-east over many years, I’ve always been aware of the ironic tension ion the claims of sworn enemies (Jews and Muslims) on Abraham. Of course, I, as a Christian, to some extent, make my own claim on Abraham along the lines of the Jewish claim. But I think that I trace my interest back to the Gulf War of the early ‘90’s. Iraq invaded Kuwait and the West (or more accurately, the UK and UK) was in attendance in the blink of an eye, bombing Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait and back to Baghdad. What caught my attention in that conflict was the way in which Israel became one of Iraq’s primary targets. Daily news bulletins would report that Scud missiles had been fired by Iraq, not at the Allied Forces chasing them out of Kuwait, but at Israel. Why? The Israeli’s weren’t involved – were they?

Clearly, in the development of Jewish and Islamic religion over the past 150 years (for Islam is a relatively young religion), claims on Abraham have been a major argument. Just a few years ago, a group of independent archaeologists discovered some quite strong evidence in Saudi Arabia that pointed to a group of disaffected Jews who had left Israel and settled in the area around the fifth and sixth centuries. The evidence showed a heretical adaptation and distortion of Jewish history and theology, merging it with Arabian history and culture. The bottom line is that the roots of Islam appeared to be found in the imaginative works of those disaffected Jews – this was evidence that would present Islam with a devastating challenge! But, fearing for their lives should they publish their findings and initiate a fuller study and investigation, these archaeologists and scholars suppressed their work.

I have to confess that I had been hoping to find in this book a thorough, well-developed investigation into and discussion of the Abrahamic origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I was hoping to find an author presenting hypotheses and opinions on the grounds of credible source material, giving me something to chew on and starting points should I wish to read further. What I got was nothing of the sort.

Bruce Feiler is a self-confessed ‘secular’ Jew. He seems to assume some kind of claim on the events of 11 September 2001, though I’m not clear what the grounds of that claim are aside from his being an American. Writing something of a diary of a journey around the Middle-East (particularly Jerusalem), Feiler paints colourful pictures of meetings with contemporary Jews, Christians and Muslims. Admittedly, he appears to have managed to meet and speak with some notable players. But these are merely contemporary religious representatives and lay commentators. It’s interesting to read their answers to questions about Abrahamic origins and their concessions to the claims and, even, similarities of their neighbours.

Feiler’s attempts to disempower Pentateuchal, Biblical or Qu’ranic canon by means of a trivialising comparison which is always going to conclude ‘Myth’ is disrespectful to the substance of religious claims. Syncretistic presuppositions are always going to lead to a watered down and unsatisfying conclusion. An attempt at offering some properly thought – through reasoned argument, one way or the other – would at least leave the reader able to make a judgement and respond to this book.

I’m not particularly interested in the syncretistic, liberal, ‘feelings’ of a glorified travel writer and wannabe anthropologist. Apparently, Abraham is whoever we want or need him to be; an amenable figure from ancient near-eastern history around whom enough ‘myth’ exists for disparate groups to all build a foundation for their cultural and spiritual mores. Feiler concludes, ‘The Abraham I long for would be a bridge between humanity and the divine… is not Jew, Christian or Muslim… won’t be the only Abraham… won’t be the last Abraham… but is an Abraham for today.’ (p217-218)

If you want ‘The Tabloid guide to the Abrahamic Origins of Major Religions’ this might be the book for you. For anything better or more than that, read a different book.