Download Jerusalem: City of Longing by Simon Goldhill PDF

By Simon Goldhill

Jerusalem is the positioning of a few of the main well-known spiritual monuments on this planet, from the Dome of the Rock to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Western Wall of the Temple. because the 19th century, the town has been a most desirable vacationer vacation spot, now not least due to the numerous spiritual pilgrims from the 3 Abrahamic faiths. yet Jerusalem is greater than a vacationer site—it is a urban the place each sq. mile is layered with old importance, spiritual depth, and notable tales. it's a urban rebuilt via every one ruling Empire in its personal manner: the Jews, the Romans, the Christians, the Muslims, and for the prior sixty years, the trendy Israelis. What makes Jerusalem so exact is the heady combine, in a single position, of centuries of ardour and scandal, kingdom-threatening wars and petty squabbles, architectural beauty and peculiar relics, non secular longing and political cruelty. it's a historical past marked by means of 3 nice forces: faith, conflict, and monumentality. during this booklet, Simon Goldhill takes in this ordinary archaeology of human mind's eye, desire, and catastrophe to supply a journey in the course of the historical past of this so much image-filled and ideology-laden city—from the bedrock of the previous urban to the towering roofs of the Holy Sepulchre. alongside the way in which, we find via layers of buried and uncovered memories—the lengthy background, the forgotten tales, and the lesser-known facets of up to date politics that proceed to make Jerusalem essentially the most embattled towns on this planet. (20080415)

Show description

Read Online or Download Jerusalem: City of Longing PDF

Best israel & palestine books

Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964-1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War

During this finished research, Gat appears to be like at British coverage within the interval best as much as the Six-Day warfare. even if Britain holds heart level during this account, the examine discusses in a few aspect American coverage and its impression at the Arab-Israeli clash. It additionally specializes in the center East water dispute, its effect on destiny occasions, and finally the outbreak of battle in 1967.

Uneasy Neighbors: Israel and the European Union

This booklet bargains an research of the dynamics of Israeli-European kin and discusses major advancements in that dating from the past due Fifties via to the current day. The emphasis is put on 5 extensive subject matters that handle various dimensions of the connection: 1) Israeli-E. U. kinfolk and the Israeli-Palestinian peace procedure; 2) Israeli-E.

Trial and Error: Israel's Route from War to De-Escalation (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies)

"By supplying an engaging linkage among Israel's overseas coverage habit and changes and adjustments in Israeli family politics, Levy is supplying a provocative thesis that merits large readership. i've got without doubt that a few readers will applaud Levy's braveness and thesis, and that others will just do the other.

Additional info for Jerusalem: City of Longing

Example text

Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the proph- The Center of Jewish Jerusalem ets,” Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew. ” Although the first Christians do seem to have taken part in the full panoply of Jewish ritual, as did Jesus, this idea of fulfillment came to be understood as a rejection of Temple ritual and above all the rejection of animal sacrifice, the central ritual of Jewish Temple religion, just as it was the central religious ritual of Greek, Roman, and other dominant cultures of the Mediterranean.

Could this be a fabrication, only a few years after the visit of Helena? The business in relics is big business indeed, and it has proved easy for modern critical thinkers to be suspicious of the whole story of the bishop’s discovery of the tomb, let alone the cross, through miracle and divine guidance. There is a great deal at stake in the (authentic) symbols of Christianity, especially as the nascent church is coming into power. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as German Protestant theologians in particular put rationality, science, and historical investigation at the center of religious learning, this suspicion became fully articulated.

The official went down to the church at dawn, and “did what I had to do. Do not ask me what I did . ” He then re- The Center of the Christian World turned to his office and phoned the Armenian patriarch and complained, “Why did you make me waste my time and come down to the church? ” He then phoned the Syrian authorities and said, “Why did you make me waste my time and come down to the church? ” Thus the crisis was averted. How many religious officials does it take to change a light bulb. . The Armenians were also involved in what must be the most ridiculous dispute between the groups.

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.67 of 5 – based on 49 votes