For someone who is agnostic and not a fan of organized religion, I have a great interest in religious studies. I view religious history in the same I look at science fiction. (For those of you cried "Blasphemy!" just then, you may want to Mark As Read and move along.) I look at most science fiction with a "Wow! That's cool! But it will never happen." cynicism. Many of the ideas laid out in the Bible (rising from the dead, talking bushes, heaven, etc.) seem like great tricks but I just don't believe it. Believe or not, I found myself watching PBS intently last night.
PBS aired the first of three installments of Walking The Bible. It had it's issues. I'm going to blame most of them on a limited budget. However, it was pretty interesting.
Our host, Bruce Feiler, traveled all over the Middle East following the stories told in the Torah and later the New Testament. Feiler is a writer and very passionate about the journey. (Too passionate, I thought. I would have preferred a Ted Koppel-esque narrator. Good news for the Discovery channel.) Feiler's constant remarks about the Bible now being real to him were a bit over the top. (Edit exclamations down to one an hour, please.)
The highlights of the first installment:
- Climbing Mt. Ararat with a local named Parachute, the guy who controlled the mountain. No one could make it to the mountain alive without his permission. Feiler did editorialize that it may be a ploy to control tourism in the area. Supposedly, Parachute found a 5000 year old piece of wood on Mt. Ararat which is believed to be from Noah's Ark.
- The ancient ruins of Harran. (Nothing interesting happens there but it is beautiful to see.)
- Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Feiler, and his "co-adventurer" Avner Goren, started their quest in Jerusalem and discussed briefly the impact of the three religions which existed there: Christianity, Judaism, and Muslim. At the end of the hour, we see the tension when the Western crew is almost denied entrance to Temple Mount by men with guns. (Some of the tension could be a televised contrivance, but the men still had big guns.)
It's PBS so the first episode airs again and again this week with the other two installments premiering on the next two Wednesdays.
End nerdiness. (Wait, I went to the library today too!)
You mean you don't believe Jonah was really swallowed by a giant fish (whale), spit out three days later, and lived to tell about it?! Geesh!
I like the comparison to science fiction.
Posted by: Lisa | Saturday, 07 January 2006 at 05:16 PM