In chapters 1-4 of Karen Armstrong’s work Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, Armstrong shows the reader the BCE history of Jerusalem and the region of Israel. These chapters helped explain the history in greater detail than I have ever been given. It was interesting to hear the Bible stories and hear about people in the Bible from her historical point of view. Her account of the history seems very balanced, despite the fact that most of her evidence comes from the Bible. She does not claim that anything belongs to a certain group; Armstrong simply informs the audience on what evidence exists and what scholars have been able to determine. I learned very much regarding the development of Jerusalem and the early stages of the creation of Israel and the progress of religion in the region.
In chapter 1, Armstrong discusses the creation of sacredness to people. She points out that despite modern developments and rationalism, one thing in our existence that still hasn’t altered is the importance of sacred places. In her description, a place becomes sacred when it is tied to our identity in some way. Somehow, these places are different than any other places we have been, and even if a person is not religious, he or she still holds certain physical locations to a higher importance than others. In the creation of the sacredness of Jerusalem, Armstrong describes King David’s creation of Israel as a holy spot. David made Israel an important spot but claiming it his capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. Not only did he improve Jerusalem from its prior status, but he made it the center of the religion of Yahweh. According to Armstrong, the Covenant of the Ark was hidden and protected in another city. David decided that he wanted to transport the Ark from this location to Jerusalem. History claims that this physical representation of Yahweh would not move by human force; it decided where it would move. David successfully had it moved, and this therefore showed the people and the believers of Yahweh that Jerusalem would become a sacred spot because it became the resting place of the ark. For this reason, Jerusalem became the important Jewish city that it remains today.
Throughout the chapters, Armstrong alludes to several events or beliefs that resonate with the ideas of today regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For instance, in chapter 1 she cites “Terror in stories of Jerusalem,” the idea that there is always two opposing forces in the city. There is the sea and the desert and the stark contrast between the two strong ideas. It reminded me of the two opposing ideas that would challenge the peace of Jerusalem thousands of years later. In addition, Armstrong also describes the state of Jerusalem and the phenomenon that “War was waged for the sake of peace” (18). This idea also echoes in modern day. And the section that stuck out to me the most was when on page 31 Armstrong states, “As always the new creation depended upon the destruction of others- a motif that would frequently recur in the future history of Jerusalem.” In the Pressman readings from last week, he highlights the fact that in the creation of Israel in the 1940s and 1950s, Israelis wanted to cleanse their land of Palestinians to create their homogenous nation-state. The concept of coexistence seems like a lofty goal.
Finally, the description of the way people used to think and conceptualize ideas is very different than today. I was surprised to realize that in the early days of Judaism, King David still worshiped many gods. In addition, his son Solomon created the Temple, yet he also allowed for other pagan gods to be worshipped there as well. In contrast from the way God is viewed today, I find it fascinating that the creation of a Temple was incredibly important because that was where a human could communicate with the divine. In present day, the common thought is that one can communicate with God no matter where he or she is or what he or she is doing. The temple that Solomon built on Mount Zion became a manifestation of the people’s religious beliefs in Yahweh, but is still extremely different than the way people worship today. Most interestingly, Armstrong concludes this thought with her statement that the “Temple was an act of conquest, a means of occupying the Promised Land with divine backing” (54). It was not enough for the people to claim that Yahweh wanted them to occupy this area; they legitimized the religion and their beliefs through a physical structure.
The readings allowed me to visualize the region more and understand the history from 1000s of years ago that still has relevance to today’s world.
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