"Walking the Bible," Dec. 14, PBS

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Jewish author Bruce Feiler sets out to follow the path of the famous characters and explore the greatest stories of the Good Book in the locations where they actually might have happened in the intriguing "Walking the Bible," the first hour of which is to be rerun on PBS stations Friday, Dec. 14, 10-11 p.m. EST (check local listings).

Feiler approaches a distinguished archaeologist, Trudy Dothan from Hebrew University, who sagely advises him it's essential he travel with a knowledgeable guide, and then recommends a local archaeologist named Avner Goren.

The intrepid duo sets out for the Garden of Eden, and seems to find the place the Bible's writers had in mind, on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, not the lush "English garden" Feiler always imagined, but a watery paradise. He makes a convincing case that the biblical image of creation would have had to come from Mesopotamia.

Forging on, he journeys to Mount Ararat, a volcano said to be the highest point in the Middle East -- where Noah's ark is said to have come to rest -- and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, near whose salty deposits the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah might have existed.

At Mount Ararat, a Turkish guide named "Parachute" takes him up the mountain, and to Feiler's intense disappointment refuses to reveal Noah's ark, which the guide claims to have found. Feiler ruminates on such details as how the animals would have been arranged on the boat, and such literal matters as how the manure would have been managed on a vessel that may have been half the size of the Titanic.

He travels to the place he believes Abraham was born and to Haran, where he was enjoined to go forth.

The boyish Feiler seems to vacillate between unquestioning belief that the biblical events took place where he's standing and slight skepticism. At the very least, he finds satisfaction in knowing the writers were inspired by those locales to write the sacred text. A look at the Dead Sea salt deposits, for example, dramatically evokes the unfortunate fate of Lot's wife.

The hour concludes with a visit to Jerusalem's Temple Mount -- revered by Christians, Jews and Muslims alike (though Muslims are now barred from admittance) -- and Feiler says his is the first Western crew to be allowed to film there in many years. This is the spot where Jesus walked, and where Abraham brought Isaac to sacrifice him, relates the clearly awestruck Feiler.

Stunningly filmed by Peter Harvey, "Walking the Bible" looks splendid. This picturesque and evocative odyssey through Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq is worth your time, even if Feiler doesn't necessarily find concrete answers to the Bible's questions "where they were first asked," as he states in his opening remarks.

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