Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Summary and Reviews of Abraham by Bruce Feiler

Abraham by Bruce Feiler

Abraham

A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths

by Bruce Feiler
  • Critics' Consensus (16):
  • Readers' Rating (5):
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 2002, 288 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2004, 256 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Both immediate and timeless, Abraham is a powerful, universal story, the first-ever interfaith portrait of the man God chose to be his partner. Thoughtful and inspiring, it offers a rare vision of hope that will redefine what we think about our neighbors, our future, and ourselves.

In this timely, provocative, and uplifting journey, the bestselling author of Walking the Bible searches for the man at the heart of the world's three monotheistic religions -- and today's deadliest conflicts.
At a moment when the world is asking, "Can the religions get along?" one figure stands out as the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. One man holds the key to our deepest fears -- and our possible reconciliation. Abraham.
Bruce Feiler set out on a personal quest to better understand our common patriarch. Traveling in war zones, climbing through caves and ancient shrines, and sitting down with the world's leading religious minds, Feiler uncovers fascinating, little-known details of the man who defines faith for half the world.
Both immediate and timeless, Abraham is a powerful, universal story, the first-ever interfaith portrait of the man God chose to be his partner. Thoughtful and inspiring, it offers a rare vision of hope that will redefine what we think about our neighbors, our future, and ourselves.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Boston Globe
An exquisitely written journey...100 percent engaging.--

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

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

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

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

Entertainment Weekly
An eloquently spiritual pilgrimage.

Jerusalem Post
The perfect read for people who are interested in the Bible and the middle East.

Los Angeles Times
Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.

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

New York Times Book Review
Feiler delivers a wealth of information in an accessible and entertaining format.

USA Today
Bruce Feiler went looking for proof. He learned that proof doesn't matter.

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

Booklist - John Green
Starred Review. Feiler poses some fascinating theological questions, but this isn't dry reading at all. Like his hugely popular Walking the Bible (2000), Feiler keeps our interest by mixing theological meditation with adventurous travelogue and sly wit. And this quietly brilliant examination of Abraham, which begins as part lit-crit thesis and part theological treatise, becomes, in the end, a passionate and prayerful argument for peace between faiths.

Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This is a joy to read. . . .a winning combination of history, travel, and spiritual memoir.

Kirkus Reviews
A vivid and discerning tour through a land that reflects this epochal figure's life of exile, questioning...and faith.

Library Journal - Joyce Smothers
...a fifth-generation American Jew from the Deep South, wrote the best-selling Walking the Bible, his account of his own journey through the deserts of the Old Testament. This slighter follow-up focuses on the patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, whose story lies at the heart of the ongoing strife that began in the Middle East.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Abraham, try these:

  • Palestine jacket

    Palestine

    by Jimmy Carter

    Published 2007

    About this book

    More by this author

    Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine.

  • The Great Transformation jacket

    The Great Transformation

    by Karen Armstrong

    Published 2007

    About this book

    More by this author

    In the ninth century BCE, the peoples of four distinct regions of the civilized world created the religious and philosophical traditions that have continued to nourish humanity to the present day: Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Now, ...

We have 5 read-alikes for Abraham, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Bruce Feiler
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Model Home
    Model Home
    by Rivers Solomon
    Rivers Solomon's novel Model Home opens with a chilling and mesmerizing line: "Maybe my mother is ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now