Five Biblical Portraits - by Elie Wiesel (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Five Biblical Portraits is a sequel to Elie Weisel's Messengers of God; in this work Wiesel enhances his well-known skill in bringing ancient religious figures to literary life with his stories of: Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Jeremiah, and Jonah.

Wiesel illuminates Joshua, Saul, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Jonah through sensitive readings of the scriptures as well as the Talmudic and Hasidic sources. As a sequel to his book, Messengers of God, this work brings ancient religious figures to literary life and emphasizes the personal struggles within the awesome missions of these men.

Review Quotes

"Deeply moving and enlightening." --The Chicago Tribune

"Wiesel's sketches will stir the imagination in ways that will open readers to new depths in ancient texts." --Religious Studies Review

"Elie Wiesel asks: What went on within the minds and souls of these biblical figures; what were their hopes and their hurts; and what do they have to say to our hopes and our hurts?" --America

"Jonah the unlucky, Joshua the lucky, Saul the complex, Jeremiah the tearful--all stride through semi-narrative episodes which the masterful story-teller weaves as a historical vignette of prophetic destiny." --Commonweal

"This collection of biographies of prophets--Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Jeremiah, and Jonah--does a masterful job of humanizing these figures. However, in the course of his descriptions, Elie Wiesel does more than inform us about their lives and supposed thoughts. He asks today's questions in the context of the past. . . . There is no ambiguity or vagueness in Wiesel's writing. He promises us portraits, and there is not a wasted brushstroke, not a blurred line." --Christian Century

About the Author

Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) was Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University since 1976. Wiesel is the author of more than forty books, several of which have won international awards. His work on behalf of human rights and world peace has earned Wiesel the Nobel Peace Prize (1986), the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal, among many other honors.