The Cathedral Of St. John The Divine Welcomes Dr. Burton Visotzky For Walking The Bible Film Screening October 17, 2012

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine opens the Holy Land Program – a series of public lectures, concerts, art, films, and educational courses devoted to fostering interfaith understanding in the New York community – with a free screening of the film Walking the Bible on Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112th Street), Manhattan.

Dr. Visotzky is the Appleman Professor of Midrash at the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Louis Stein Director of the Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary. He is also the author of ten books, including The Genesis of Ethics and Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder from the Rabbis of the Talmud. He developed, with Bill Moyers, a ten hour PBS mini-series titled Genesis: A Living Conversation. He will be awarded the Goldhizer Prize for work in Jewish-Muslim relations the night before his lecture.

The film Walking the Bible follows author Bruce Feiler and an accompanying archeologist as they visit many of the historical sites of the early chapters of the Book of Genesis. Rabbi Leonard A. Schoolman, the administrative editor of "The Torah Commentary,” will lead a discussion after the film. The discussion will highlight ideas about the scientific validity of the Biblical narrative as well as the historical nature of the early Biblical texts.

For the three Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – the Holy Land was and is sacred ground. For Jews, the early history of the people is anchored in the places and ideas found in the narrow strip of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea. For Christians, the life of Jesus and his disciples is played out in Jerusalem and in Galilee. For Muslims, Jerusalem is one of the holy cities of Islam. The Holy Land Program focuses on the centrality of the Holy Land in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and explores four different epochs: The Time of the Hebrew Bible; The Time of the New Testament; the Time of the Crusades and the Golden Age in Spain; and the Contemporary Scene.

For more information or to purchase tickets for the lecture please visit http://www.stjohndivine.org/HolyLand.html.