History of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

Armstrong is probably the world's expert on religion, and I was attracted by the premise of the book -a study of how one city came to be considered by three major religions to be `holy'. In Jerusalem, she says, more than any other place, `history is a dimension of the present'. She tells the story of each `holy' spot- for the Jews, the Western Wall; Christians, the Holy Sepulchre; Muslims, the Haram- and the centuries of blood spilt over them.
Throughout history, matters of religion and the heart have been used to justify bloodshed. The Trojan War was the story of the conquest of the Mycenaean empire, but the songs they sung were of `the face that launched a thousand ships'. From the English Revolution to Northern Ireland to Iraq, people have killed others citing (their vision of) God as justification.
Marxists disparage the Great Man View of History; yet as long as the masses have not realised their own power (in 2007, we're still waiting) they will look to their traditional leaders for motivation. An insult to the big boss, God, is the most unbearable provocation of all.
Muslims in the UK have been subjected to a grotesque catalogue of institutional and social racism since the infamous War on Terror began, but they did not take to the streets until the Mohammad cartoon. During all the cultural misunderstanding, discrimination and even Islamophobic violence of the past years, the straw that broke the camel's back was an insult to (the big boss of) their religion.
Unfortunately Armstrong accepts as history many bits of the Old Testament that have been demonstrated to be purely mythical or allegorical. On the other hand, her insight into an earthbound, Jungian- if not materialist- understanding of mythology and religion is quite profound.
She writes well about the social implications of shifts in the political balance of power. But there is a big problem with her `ideology-only' approach.
For example, I liked her description of the cultural contrast between the `exclusiveness of the sacred' in Judaism versus the `inclusiveness (tawhid)' of Islam.
But she goes too far in attributing the ascendancy of Pauline Christianity to the new ideal of 'Paul the traveling missionary' and 'a rejection of the geography which had relegated the goyim to the margins of holiness' without even mentioning the pogroms and sectarian rages of the Jewish Revolt in the first century. Indeed, no writer has yet told the story of Pauline Christianity as against its relevant background of the Jewish Revolt. History is written by the victor, and all the Christian documents are Pauline.
An ex-Catholic nun, Armstrong is also a world expert on Islam, and her profound respect for the religion is evident. But in her first paragraph on Mohammed, she suggests as one of his drivers that 'Jews and Christians had been taunting Arabs because God had sent them no revelation or prophet'. This is a bit silly.
Though she admits the conquest of Islam was 'almost certainly not inspired by religious motives' (well, duh) she doesn't really explain what it was inspired by, specifically why the Muslims wanted to conquer Jerusalem. She does concede it was the most peaceful conquest the city had ever seen, and that for several centuries Jerusalem enjoyed the first religious tolerance it had seen since the days of King David and the Jebusites.
She recounts the history of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict with mature equanimity and compassion for its human consequences, but offers no contribution to an analysis. One side says this; the other says that, as far as she's concerned.
She puts the gradual erosion of justice in favor of the Jews down to the Arabs having 'continually said no when offered anything at all' where the Zionists pragmatically 'accepted anything offered to them' by the Western powers, so that 'in the end, they got everything'. This is not good enough.
Though Armstrong's approach lacks the depth of a Marxist understanding of the way history works; nevertheless she is brilliant on the subject of religion, and expresses well the very real emotional experience of 'the divine', and the eschatological yearning for 'the universal return to the unity whence all living derives'.

`When people become alienated from their surroundings and feel that, physically and spiritually, they have no home in the world, they feel drawn to return to their roots to find healing'. Page 299
This phenomenon cannot be reduced to a single word-alienation- or phrase-the opiate of the masses, the sigh of the oppressed, the heart of a heartless world. [though that's the most beautiful definition so far]
It would be great to see a Marxist analysis of religion that explained its materialist and ideological roles in human history with equal reverence, as it would be great to see religious writers look less inside their hearts and more to the works of their own hands for a solution to human injustice.

A meditative history (7/8 people found this helpful)

While this is a superb, fair-minded and empathetic history of the city which will be enlightening to all except very knowledgeable specialists, it is at the same time Karen Armstrong's meditation on the "sacred geography" conceived by the three faiths in its spiritual and its material form. She is very sympathetic to and receptive of the spiritual ideals of all three faiths, and is dismayed by how so often they have all been debased by bitter rivalries (between as well as within religions), by demands for exclusivity and domination, as well as by the "idolatry to see a shrine or a city as the ultimate goal of religion". This is something the wisest theologians - few, alas, in number - have taught. At the same time, however, a material shrine is one expression of one's spiritual identity, so that the perceived threat or the destruction of a shrine - let alone expulsions and exile - are experienced as violations of one's spiritual identity. She shows that the potency of religious symbolism is such that even secular nationalism (to which she perhaps does not pay quite enough attention) has recourse to it. She shows how the best periods in the history of the city have been those few when the rulers of one faith or ethnicity have respected the faith, ethnicity and buildings of another. She is not optimistic that such wisdom is available in Jerusalem in the near future.

Review (6/12 people found this helpful)

This book seems to give the idea that it is a concise and accurate account of the History of Jerusalem but indeed it fails on many accounts. Armstrong has not sourced many of her accounts which leave the academic reader confused, questioning the authority of such a text. All in all a good read but questionable in an academic environment.

Informative and Enjoyable (21/22 people found this helpful)

Karen Armstrong has written a book which is both informative and enjoyable to read. She takes us from the first settlements in this area right up to the present day. She shows us how important the ownership of both land and buildings has been and is to the occupants of this city. Throughout its history there has been a struggle for ascendancy between Jews, Christians and Muslims.Various holy buildings have been demolished, added on to or built over as they have passed between the different religons. Not only disputes between the different faiths but also amongst the different Christian sects The author gives a very fair and balanced account and helps the reader, who may be looking at Jerusalam from a western Christian point of view, to have a better understanding of the Muslims position. She points out that when Saladin took Jerusalam from the crusaders the Christians were allowed to leave and were not slaughtered, even though this meant some of them left for the coast in order to carry on fighting I would say this book is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the dilemma that Jerusalam poses today and how peace in the Middle East will only come when Jerusalam is at peace.

History of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

Karen Armstrong

Reader Reviews:

Jungian- if not materialist (0/2 people found this helpful)

A meditative history (7/8 people found this helpful)

Review (6/12 people found this helpful)

Informative and Enjoyable (21/22 people found this helpful)

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