America's Prophet

After reading this book, which was recommended to a friend of mine who wanted to bring me back to Christianity, I am still unconvinced of the divinity of the Bible. Why? Well, the thing is, Feiler does not defend the authenticity of the Old or New Testaments. This book is mostly about cultural identity rather than religious apologetics and Feiler claims that the most influential figure in America was Moses. Feiler’s novel is more about Judaism’s influence in America, in particular the story of Exodus and Moses, rather than that of Christianity. Whether or not Christianity or Judaism had the biggest influence on the citizenry of America is of no concern of me. What gets me is that someone gave this book to me as a way to convert me to Christianity, when in fact it does not change my opinion about Christianity at all.

I have to give kudos to some of the points made by Feiler in his book. He says that the separation of church and state granted in the first amendment to the constitution has spurred religious diversity and development. He also says that, around the years where slavery was at its peak of controversy (Civil War era), the Bible was quoted the most in defense of slave ownership but anti-slavery priests, who quoted the Bible less, won the battle. A very interesting tidbit (and it’s interesting in the fact that the guy is a conservative who’s even mentioning this in the first place) is in chapter 8 when Feiler mentions that Moses was used by political leftists, including communists, to promote their philosophies.

Come to think of it, most of the claims that Feiler makes in his book only reinforces my premise that religion is just an invention made by mortals and not delivered to prophets or seekers by gods or angels or spirits or etc. I suppose that’s the only reason why I’ve read through the book. If there are any apologists out there who are looking for theological material, look somewhere else. Again, Bruce Feiler makes no attempt to defend the divinity of the Bible in America’s Prophet but rather it is a argument in American cultural identity of, “Moses is bigger than Jesus and here’s why…”.