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A History of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
Due to the level of detail, maps are best viewed on a tablet.
‘A History of Jerusalem should be read, not only by travellers and potential travellers in Jerusalem, but by all of us.’ Stephen Tummin, Daily Telegraph
Jerusalem has probably cast more of a spell over the human imagination than any other city in the world.
Held by believers to contain the site where Abraham offered up Isaac, the place of the crucifixion of Christ and the rock from which the prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven, Jerusalem has been celebrated and revered for centuries by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Such is the symbolic power of this ancient city that its future status poses a major obstacle to a comprehensive regional peace in the Middle East.
In this comprehensive and elegantly written work, Karen Armstrong traces the turbulent history of the city from the prehistoric era to the present day.
638 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1996
446 people are currently reading
3030 people want to read
About the author
Karen Armstrong
114 books3,423 followersKaren Armstrong is a British author and commentator of Irish Catholic descent known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical Christian faith. She attended St Anne's College, Oxford, while in the convent and graduated in English. She left the convent in 1969. Her work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance of compassion and the Golden Rule.
Armstrong received the US$100,000 TED Prize in February 2008. She used that occasion to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year.
Armstrong received the US$100,000 TED Prize in February 2008. She used that occasion to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year.
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July 15, 2022
4.5 Stars
Jerusalem has for centuries been a symbol, surrounded in people's mind (Jews, Christians and Muslims alike) with an aura of association that has made it sacred. They found their God in the Holy City and it thus became inseparable from their deepest selves. This makes it very difficult for them to see the city objectively, because it has become bound up with their conception of themselves and the ultimate reality sometimes called "God" or the sacred that gives our mundane life meaning and value.
The Bible tells us that Israelites came originally from Mesopotamia. Today religious people believe that they can make contact with their God wherever they are in the world, in a field, supermarket or church. But in the ancient world, prayer in our sense was far from common. The religion we know as Judaism originated not in Judaea but in the diaspora and would be conveyed to the Holy land in the future by such emissaries from Babylon as Nehemiah, Ezra and Hillel. Membership of Israel was confined to the descendants of those who had been exiled to Babylon and to those who were prepared to submit to the Torah, which had become the official law code of Jerusalem.
A ruthless tendency to exclude other people henceforth became a characteristic of the history of Jerusalem, even though this ran strongly counter to some of Israel's most important traditions. As long as a ruler left the Temple alone, the Jews were prepared to tolerate him but any threat to the Temple from any source could lead to violence, bloodshed and fearful reprisals. Roman troops destroyed the Temple and this time it would not be rebuilt. All Jewish land was confiscated and in theory became the property of the emperor, but in practice the Romans left most of the former owners in actual possession, recognizing that nearly all the surviving landlords of Palestine had been opposed to the revolt.
Aelia was simply the Guilty City: it was quite unworthy of veneration and helpful to Christians only insofar as it symbolized the death of Judaism. Islam's birth had been violent, but the Quranic ideal was harmony and unity. The Quran was simply a restatement and a reminder of the simple message that God had sent down to all people. Muslims are taught to regard 3 places as sacred centers of the word.
1) Mecca - Ka'bah the box-shaped shrine symbolized the earth, its four corners radiating from a central point. Tawaf was a meditative exercise: circling around the still, small point of the turning universe, pilgrims learned to orient themselves, finding their own center and priorities. The Ka'bah linked the past with the present, the human with the divine, the internal world with the external. Yet when Muhammad (PBUH) taught his first converts to prostrate themselves in prayer before Allah as an outward sign of their interior Islam, he told them to turn away from the Ka'bah to face Jerusalem, as the Ka'bah was contaminated by idols. The first qiblah (direction of prayer) marked their new orientation away from their tribe toward the primordial faith of the whole of humanity. It also expressed Muhammad's sense of solidarity and continuity with the ahl al-kitab.
2) Yathrib - the home of the first ummah, which Muslims called al-Madinah.
3) Jerusalem remained a vital symbol of Islam's sense of continuity and kinship with the ahl al-kitab, whether or not Jews and Christians were willing to acknowledge this. The flight of the Prophet from the Ka'bah to the Temple Mount also revealed the transference of Mecca's holiness to Jerusalem, al masjid ad-Aqsa. There was a divinely established connected between the two cities.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem had been through so many violent reversals that they had acquired a lordly indifference to minor vicissitudes. The Crusaders systematically slaughtered about thirty thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. A law banned Jews and Muslims from the Holy City; the local Christians were also expelled because the Crusaders suspected them to complicity with Islam. The fatal divinity of the Kingdom continued right up to the bitter end, the Christians consumed with internal power squabbles.
When Jerusalem was captured by Saladin who showed more mercy to Christians than they ever did to other religions. The sufferings at the hands of the Crusaders had also affected the Muslims' view of the Holy City. Henceforth, they adopted defensiveness in their devotion to al-Quds, which would become a more aggressively Islamic city than hitherto. Apart from the brief interlude of Crusader occupation, Jerusalem had been an important Islamic city for nearly thirteen hundred years.
Zionism would have been a secular movement, inspired for the most part by Jews who had lost faith in religion but the rabbis showed that the movement had a political potential. Zionists acquired an international platform when they held their first conference at Basel, Switzerland. Jerusalem throughout remained a religious and a strategic prize and its ownership was contested by the Jews, the Arabs and the international community. Eventually in 1967, Jewish military and diplomatic maneuvers worked and Jerusalem became the capital of the Jewish state of Israel. The outcome was determined by the skill and resources of the Zionist leaders, who managed to influence first the British and later the American governments who showed a canny understanding of the diplomatic process.
The Arab nationalist movement in Palestine lacked the coherence and sense of realpolitik that was necessary to deal with the Europeans on the one hand and the Zionists on the other. They could not maintain a sustained resistance, and unaccustomed to the methods of Western diplomacy they continually said no when offered anything at all - hoping that a firm and an uncompromising policy of rejection would secure them the right to an independent Arab state in the land which seemed demographically and historically to belong by rights to them.
The idea of the Balfour Declaration was simply to create a center in (but not in the whole of) Palestine where Jews could live as of right instead of on sufferance. In 1948, the city was divided between Israel and Jordan. There was to be no question of creating an independent Palestinian state. Jerusalem which had so frequently been divided internally was now split by more than one and a half miles of fortified frontier, barbed wire fences and massive defensive ramparts. Had it not been for Hitler's Nazi crusade against the Jews, the Zionist enterprise might never have succeeded. The guilt, shock and outrage occasioned by the discovery of the camps had evoked a wave of sympathy for the Jewish people after the Second World War which certainly helped the Zionist cause.
In 1967, the Israeli forces launched a preemptive strike against the United Arab Republic and destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground. This inevitably drew Jordan into the war, two hundred died in the defense of the Holy City - eventually the Israel Defense Forces circled the Old City and entered it through the Lion Gate. After the armistice had been signed, the 619 inhabitants of the Maghribi Quarter were given three hours to evacuate their homes. Then the bulldozers came in and reduced this historic district - one of the earliest of the Jerusalem awqaf - to rubble. This was only the first act in a long and continuing process of 'urban renewal' - a renewal based on the dismantling of historic Arab Jerusalem - that would entirely transform the appearance and character of the city.
At the end of the Six Day War, Israel had occupied not only Jerusalem but the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. The Israel Knesset formally annexed the Old City and East Jerusalem declaring them to be part of the State of Israel. This directly contravened the Hague Convection and there had already been demands from the Arab countries, the Soviet Union and Communist bloc for Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab Jerusalem. Britain had told the Israelis not to regard their conquest of the city as permanent. Even the United States, always kindly disposed toward Israel, had warned against any formal legislation to change the status of the city since it could have no standing in international law.
President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt made his historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977 and the following year, he and Begin signed the Camp David Accords. Egypt recognized the State of Israel and in return, Begin promised to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula. This drew Begin into outright confrontation with the Israeli settlers who had built the Jewish town of Yamit in the Sinai and fought to the last in an attempt to prevent its dismantling. New right-wing groups were formed to oppose the accords and to fight against the government. A religious spirit had emerged in Israel which fostered not compassion but murderous hatred. The people who these far-right groups were not primitive or uneducated. Their objective was to force the Muslims to allow Jews to build a synagogue in the Haram.
In 1987 exactly seventy years after Allenby's conquest of Jerusalem, the popular Palestinian uprising known as the intifadah broke out in Gaza. One practical consequence of the intifadah was that Jerusalem become two cities once again. The intifadah also achieved striking results internationally and in the Arab world. All around the world, the general public became aware of the aggressive nature of the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and the territories. In 1988, King Hussein made a dramatic declaration in which he relinquished Jordan's claim to the West Bank and East Jerusalem - territory that he now acknowledged to belong to the Palestinian nation. This created a power vacuum which the PLO took advantage of. The leadership of intifadah urged the PLO to renounce its old unrealistic policies: whether the Palestinians liked or not, Israel and US held the chief cards in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, hence PLO must abandon its rejectionist stance and accept UN Resolution 242 recognizing the existence of the State of Israel.
The intifadah also was able to convince Israel that it could not continue to hold the Occupied Territories without losing its humanity. In 1993, Israel and PLO signed the Oslo Agreement turning over the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank (most immediately, the area around Jericho) to a Palestinian administration. No new roads were built to link up the older Arab districts. Moreover, the legal planning procedures adopted by the Israeli government have prevented the Palestinians from using 86% of the land in East Jerusalem. For the ultra-Orthodox, as for the far-right groups sharing means partition and a divided Jerusalem is a dead Jerusalem.
Israeli government have repeatedly insisted that Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and that there can be no question of sharing its sovereignty. Since the intifadah, Jerusalem has in effect become a divided state: the main commercial district is almost entirely Jewish, while the Old City is almost entirely Arab. The only point of contact is the belligerently planted ring of Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem. Israeli often reply that the Palestinians of Jerusalem are treated far better than they would be in an Arab state. This may be true, but the Palestinians are not comparing themselves with other Arabs but with their Jewish fellow citizens. To insist that a city is 'holy' without implementing the justice that is an alienable part of Jerusalem's sanctity is to embark upon a dangerous course.
The religion of hatred can have an effect that is quite disproportionate to the number of people involved. Today religious extremists on both sides of the conflict have been responsible for atrocities committed in the name of 'God'. Since 1948 the gradual return of the Jewish people to Zion had resulted in the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland as well as from Jerusalem. We have seen that Jerusalem and its shrines have not only been powerful symbols of the divine but have also provided worshippers with an encounter with their deepest shelves.
Since 1967 Palestinians have seen the Haram threatened sporadically by Jewish extremists as a symbol of their beleaguered national identify. For over two thousand years Jerusalem has been a focus for the apocalyptic hopes of Jews, Christians and Muslims. As of now, the prospect of peace looks bleak. But the history of Jerusalem reminds us that astonishing reversals are always possible and that nothing not even moral hatred - is permanent.
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Jerusalem has for centuries been a symbol, surrounded in people's mind (Jews, Christians and Muslims alike) with an aura of association that has made it sacred. They found their God in the Holy City and it thus became inseparable from their deepest selves. This makes it very difficult for them to see the city objectively, because it has become bound up with their conception of themselves and the ultimate reality sometimes called "God" or the sacred that gives our mundane life meaning and value.
The Bible tells us that Israelites came originally from Mesopotamia. Today religious people believe that they can make contact with their God wherever they are in the world, in a field, supermarket or church. But in the ancient world, prayer in our sense was far from common. The religion we know as Judaism originated not in Judaea but in the diaspora and would be conveyed to the Holy land in the future by such emissaries from Babylon as Nehemiah, Ezra and Hillel. Membership of Israel was confined to the descendants of those who had been exiled to Babylon and to those who were prepared to submit to the Torah, which had become the official law code of Jerusalem.
A ruthless tendency to exclude other people henceforth became a characteristic of the history of Jerusalem, even though this ran strongly counter to some of Israel's most important traditions. As long as a ruler left the Temple alone, the Jews were prepared to tolerate him but any threat to the Temple from any source could lead to violence, bloodshed and fearful reprisals. Roman troops destroyed the Temple and this time it would not be rebuilt. All Jewish land was confiscated and in theory became the property of the emperor, but in practice the Romans left most of the former owners in actual possession, recognizing that nearly all the surviving landlords of Palestine had been opposed to the revolt.
Aelia was simply the Guilty City: it was quite unworthy of veneration and helpful to Christians only insofar as it symbolized the death of Judaism. Islam's birth had been violent, but the Quranic ideal was harmony and unity. The Quran was simply a restatement and a reminder of the simple message that God had sent down to all people. Muslims are taught to regard 3 places as sacred centers of the word.
1) Mecca - Ka'bah the box-shaped shrine symbolized the earth, its four corners radiating from a central point. Tawaf was a meditative exercise: circling around the still, small point of the turning universe, pilgrims learned to orient themselves, finding their own center and priorities. The Ka'bah linked the past with the present, the human with the divine, the internal world with the external. Yet when Muhammad (PBUH) taught his first converts to prostrate themselves in prayer before Allah as an outward sign of their interior Islam, he told them to turn away from the Ka'bah to face Jerusalem, as the Ka'bah was contaminated by idols. The first qiblah (direction of prayer) marked their new orientation away from their tribe toward the primordial faith of the whole of humanity. It also expressed Muhammad's sense of solidarity and continuity with the ahl al-kitab.
2) Yathrib - the home of the first ummah, which Muslims called al-Madinah.
3) Jerusalem remained a vital symbol of Islam's sense of continuity and kinship with the ahl al-kitab, whether or not Jews and Christians were willing to acknowledge this. The flight of the Prophet from the Ka'bah to the Temple Mount also revealed the transference of Mecca's holiness to Jerusalem, al masjid ad-Aqsa. There was a divinely established connected between the two cities.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem had been through so many violent reversals that they had acquired a lordly indifference to minor vicissitudes. The Crusaders systematically slaughtered about thirty thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. A law banned Jews and Muslims from the Holy City; the local Christians were also expelled because the Crusaders suspected them to complicity with Islam. The fatal divinity of the Kingdom continued right up to the bitter end, the Christians consumed with internal power squabbles.
When Jerusalem was captured by Saladin who showed more mercy to Christians than they ever did to other religions. The sufferings at the hands of the Crusaders had also affected the Muslims' view of the Holy City. Henceforth, they adopted defensiveness in their devotion to al-Quds, which would become a more aggressively Islamic city than hitherto. Apart from the brief interlude of Crusader occupation, Jerusalem had been an important Islamic city for nearly thirteen hundred years.
Zionism would have been a secular movement, inspired for the most part by Jews who had lost faith in religion but the rabbis showed that the movement had a political potential. Zionists acquired an international platform when they held their first conference at Basel, Switzerland. Jerusalem throughout remained a religious and a strategic prize and its ownership was contested by the Jews, the Arabs and the international community. Eventually in 1967, Jewish military and diplomatic maneuvers worked and Jerusalem became the capital of the Jewish state of Israel. The outcome was determined by the skill and resources of the Zionist leaders, who managed to influence first the British and later the American governments who showed a canny understanding of the diplomatic process.
The Arab nationalist movement in Palestine lacked the coherence and sense of realpolitik that was necessary to deal with the Europeans on the one hand and the Zionists on the other. They could not maintain a sustained resistance, and unaccustomed to the methods of Western diplomacy they continually said no when offered anything at all - hoping that a firm and an uncompromising policy of rejection would secure them the right to an independent Arab state in the land which seemed demographically and historically to belong by rights to them.
The idea of the Balfour Declaration was simply to create a center in (but not in the whole of) Palestine where Jews could live as of right instead of on sufferance. In 1948, the city was divided between Israel and Jordan. There was to be no question of creating an independent Palestinian state. Jerusalem which had so frequently been divided internally was now split by more than one and a half miles of fortified frontier, barbed wire fences and massive defensive ramparts. Had it not been for Hitler's Nazi crusade against the Jews, the Zionist enterprise might never have succeeded. The guilt, shock and outrage occasioned by the discovery of the camps had evoked a wave of sympathy for the Jewish people after the Second World War which certainly helped the Zionist cause.
In 1967, the Israeli forces launched a preemptive strike against the United Arab Republic and destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground. This inevitably drew Jordan into the war, two hundred died in the defense of the Holy City - eventually the Israel Defense Forces circled the Old City and entered it through the Lion Gate. After the armistice had been signed, the 619 inhabitants of the Maghribi Quarter were given three hours to evacuate their homes. Then the bulldozers came in and reduced this historic district - one of the earliest of the Jerusalem awqaf - to rubble. This was only the first act in a long and continuing process of 'urban renewal' - a renewal based on the dismantling of historic Arab Jerusalem - that would entirely transform the appearance and character of the city.
At the end of the Six Day War, Israel had occupied not only Jerusalem but the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. The Israel Knesset formally annexed the Old City and East Jerusalem declaring them to be part of the State of Israel. This directly contravened the Hague Convection and there had already been demands from the Arab countries, the Soviet Union and Communist bloc for Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab Jerusalem. Britain had told the Israelis not to regard their conquest of the city as permanent. Even the United States, always kindly disposed toward Israel, had warned against any formal legislation to change the status of the city since it could have no standing in international law.
President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt made his historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977 and the following year, he and Begin signed the Camp David Accords. Egypt recognized the State of Israel and in return, Begin promised to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula. This drew Begin into outright confrontation with the Israeli settlers who had built the Jewish town of Yamit in the Sinai and fought to the last in an attempt to prevent its dismantling. New right-wing groups were formed to oppose the accords and to fight against the government. A religious spirit had emerged in Israel which fostered not compassion but murderous hatred. The people who these far-right groups were not primitive or uneducated. Their objective was to force the Muslims to allow Jews to build a synagogue in the Haram.
In 1987 exactly seventy years after Allenby's conquest of Jerusalem, the popular Palestinian uprising known as the intifadah broke out in Gaza. One practical consequence of the intifadah was that Jerusalem become two cities once again. The intifadah also achieved striking results internationally and in the Arab world. All around the world, the general public became aware of the aggressive nature of the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and the territories. In 1988, King Hussein made a dramatic declaration in which he relinquished Jordan's claim to the West Bank and East Jerusalem - territory that he now acknowledged to belong to the Palestinian nation. This created a power vacuum which the PLO took advantage of. The leadership of intifadah urged the PLO to renounce its old unrealistic policies: whether the Palestinians liked or not, Israel and US held the chief cards in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, hence PLO must abandon its rejectionist stance and accept UN Resolution 242 recognizing the existence of the State of Israel.
The intifadah also was able to convince Israel that it could not continue to hold the Occupied Territories without losing its humanity. In 1993, Israel and PLO signed the Oslo Agreement turning over the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank (most immediately, the area around Jericho) to a Palestinian administration. No new roads were built to link up the older Arab districts. Moreover, the legal planning procedures adopted by the Israeli government have prevented the Palestinians from using 86% of the land in East Jerusalem. For the ultra-Orthodox, as for the far-right groups sharing means partition and a divided Jerusalem is a dead Jerusalem.
Israeli government have repeatedly insisted that Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and that there can be no question of sharing its sovereignty. Since the intifadah, Jerusalem has in effect become a divided state: the main commercial district is almost entirely Jewish, while the Old City is almost entirely Arab. The only point of contact is the belligerently planted ring of Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem. Israeli often reply that the Palestinians of Jerusalem are treated far better than they would be in an Arab state. This may be true, but the Palestinians are not comparing themselves with other Arabs but with their Jewish fellow citizens. To insist that a city is 'holy' without implementing the justice that is an alienable part of Jerusalem's sanctity is to embark upon a dangerous course.
The religion of hatred can have an effect that is quite disproportionate to the number of people involved. Today religious extremists on both sides of the conflict have been responsible for atrocities committed in the name of 'God'. Since 1948 the gradual return of the Jewish people to Zion had resulted in the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland as well as from Jerusalem. We have seen that Jerusalem and its shrines have not only been powerful symbols of the divine but have also provided worshippers with an encounter with their deepest shelves.
Since 1967 Palestinians have seen the Haram threatened sporadically by Jewish extremists as a symbol of their beleaguered national identify. For over two thousand years Jerusalem has been a focus for the apocalyptic hopes of Jews, Christians and Muslims. As of now, the prospect of peace looks bleak. But the history of Jerusalem reminds us that astonishing reversals are always possible and that nothing not even moral hatred - is permanent.
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![Profile Image for [Name Redacted].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1347082397i%2F287915._UY200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
October 23, 2009
I find it genuinely distressing that so many people get their understanding of the three Abrahamic religions from armchair historians and pseudo-scholars like Armstrong. Her decidedly modern obsession with what she terms "social justice" colours her interpretations of the history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, making this book all but useless. The thrust is generally thus -- "Oooh, those dirty Jews! Ohhhh, those barbaric Christians! OHHHHHHH, Islam is real and perfect!" She opens it by dismissing Judaism and presenting it as a fundamentally pagan religion; discusses Christianity as though there had always been a united church and without any attention to the early founding figures; and then goes on to discuss Islam in almost orgasmic detail. Having before dismissed the religious claims of Judaism and Christianity, one wonders how she can then present Muhammad as a real prophet who received real revelations from a real god? The book is a monument to Western prejudices and revisionism, as well as to one person's desperate attempts to distance themself from their religious past via a pretense of objective scholarship.
May 30, 2021
الكتاب رقم/2021
اسم الكتاب: القدس مدينة واحدة ثلاث عقائد Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
اسم المؤلف: كارين ارمسترونج : Karen Armstrong,
التصنيف: كتاب تاريخي – عقائدي
مدينة القدس:
في القدس السماءُ تَفَرَّقَتْ في الناسِ تحمينا ونحميها
ونحملُها على أكتافِنا حَمْلاً إذا جَارَت على أقمارِها الأزمانْ
في القدس أعمدةُ الرُّخامِ الداكناتُ
كأنَّ تعريقَ الرُّخامِ دخانْ
ونوافذٌ تعلو المساجدَ والكنائس،
أَمْسَكَتْ بيدِ الصُّباحِ تُرِيهِ كيفَ النقشُ بالألوانِ
،
ان تربط كتاب لباحث ديني اجنبي بقصيدة مثل قصيدة تميم البرغوثي شيئ كبير لان الكتاب والقصيدة اظهرا تعقيدات المدينة تلك المدينة المقدسة لثلاث اديان سماوية وان كانت محرمة على احداها لانها لم تصن المدينة والا لمى احتلتهاعامة1967 تلك المدينة الحزينة التي تعاني مدينة القبة الصفراء والصليب الذهبي مدينة الحب والسلام تلك المدينىة التي اكملت الرسالة مع بيت لحم انها القدس فيا كاتب التاريخ مهلا في القدس لكني لا ارى بالقدس الا انت.
# كارين ارمسترونج
هي باحثة بريطانية في الاديان ابتعدت عن الكاثوليكية واتبعت التصوف المسيحي لانه اقرب الى التصوف الاسلامي لها العديد من الكتب التي تتحدث عن مقارتة الاديان.
# وصف الكتاب
القدس مدينة واحدة عقائد ثلاث من اصدار مكتبة الاسكندرية 1998 بنسخته العربية وصدرت طبعته الاولى باللغة الانكليزية 1996 بعدد صفحات 720 صفحة وثماتية عشر فصلا بدات بصهيون وانتهت بصهيون فهل قدر المدينة ان تبتلى بيهود .في البداية تلقي المؤلفة الضوء على نشأة بني "إسرائيل" والرد على المزاعم الواردة في كتبهم الدينية وخاصة كتابهم المقدس والذي يقرر أن بني "إسرائيل" هم قوم جاءوا أصلاً من بلاد ما بين النهرين واستقروا فترة ما في أرض كنعان ثم هاجرت قبائل بني "إسرائيل" الاثنتي عشرة,والي ذالك من الحقائق التاريخية عن الاديان الثلاث ونشأتها في ارض واحدة
# صفحات الكتاب
1. الفترة الزمنية للكتاب:
تمتد الفترة الزمنة للكتاب من سيدنا ابراهيم واليوبوسيون والفترة التي عاشها الى هذا الزمن 2021 بالرغم من صدور الكتاب 1996 ولكن المدينة محتلة نعم محتلة وتعاني من عام 1967 نظرة مدروسة على تاريخ القدس - مدينة مقدسة لليهود والمسيحيين والمسلمين. تتعقب كارين أرمسترونج تاريخها وتتتبع كيف ومتى تصبح المدينة "مقدسة". إنها مدينة تم احتلالها وتدميرها وإعادة بنائها مرات لا تحصى في الماضي. ومع ذلك ، لا يزال الناس ينجذبون إليه. سواء أكان مؤمنًا بإحدى الديانات الثلاث أم لا ، تستمر القدس في لعب دور محوري في السياسة العالمية اليوم. من المهم أن نفهم أنه بالنسبة للمؤمنين ، هو مركز الأرض بعد مكة والمدينة
2. مفترق طرق:
تقف مدينة القدس كمفترق طرق ديني لا مثيل لها في أي مكان في التاريخ. على هذا النحو ، فهي تمتلك كيمياء متقلبة تنفجر بشكل منتظم - كما نتحقق بشكل مؤلم من خلال التقارير الإخبارية والتلفزيون.يوجد سرد شامل لتاريخ المدينة الرائع الممتد على مدى 3000 عام. على الرغم من نقاط التحول الدينية في المدينة ، مثل المعارك والزلازل وأحداث أخرى مختلفة ، مثل غزوات الرومان والصليبيين ، التي تفصل بينها ألف عام فقط ، والتي كادت تقضي على المدينة. توفر تفسيراتها الشاملة سياقًا للصراع الحالي في إسرائيل.
3. جمال المدينة:
للقدس مدينة جميلة علينا ان نحاول فهم تلك المدينة التي مزقتها النزاعات. موضوعها الشامل ، أن القدس كانت مركزية للتجربة و "الجغرافيا المقدسة" لليهود والمسلمين والمسيحيين ، وبالتالي أدت إلى صراعات مميتة من أجل الهيمنة ، نعم الهيمنة من قبل كل الغزاة الذين دخلو المدينة وحاولو الاستيلاء عليها ظلما اذا ابتعدما عن القنح الاسلامي للمدينة لانها اخذت العدل والامان خلال هذا الفتح ، فاذا توجهنا الى ظروف المدبنة السياسية والاجتماعية والثقافية نرى الديانات التوحيدية الثلاثة في نقدها لسياسات التعصب لأنها تفكر في المفارقة الكبرى بأن المدينة المقدسة ، التي يحظى بها المؤمنون كرمز وموقع للوئام والتكامل ، كانت مكانًا مثيرًا للجدل حيث تقاتل الأديان بازستمرار ، اليهودية والمسيجية والاسلام وليس فقط مع بعضهم البعض لكن بينهم ايضا وقد . إدانت الكاتبة لضم إسرائيل للمدينة القديمة والقدس الشرقية عام 1967 في حرب الأيام الستة ("كان من المستحيل على الإسرائيليين رؤية الأمر بموضوعية ، لأنهم واجهوا الروح اليهودية عند [الحائط الغربي]") ، تدفع موضوعها للجغرافيا المقدسة بعيدًا جدًا باعتباره التجسيد المادي لتحفيز الأساطير والأساطير. - لقد واجهوا الروح اليهودية ")
4. العدالة الاحتماعية:
ربما افضل تشبيه للحياة داخل المدينة الاشتراكية ولكن لماذا هي دون غيرها لانك ترى الجميع مشتركون في كل شيئ عليك تقبل الاخر لتعيش ربما يمكن تطبيق هذا النوع بين ت المسلمون والمسيحيون لكن لايمكن تطبيقه مع اليهود لاعتقادهم انهم من يملكون المدينة فالدارس لمدينة القدس يرى إنها تريد معارضة التطرف الديني من الاديان الثلاث ، التركيز على "العدالة الاجتماعية" ينسجم أيضًا بشكل غير مريح مع الانطباع العام بأنه إذا كان الجميع متصوفين فقط بشأن تجربتهم الدينية مثل الصوفيين ، فسيكون كل شيء على ما يرام. تبدأ المشاكل فقط عندما تحاول الخروج إلى العالم والقيام بشيء ما على أساس قناعاتك. إن كيفية التوفيق بين ذلك وبين المبادئ التي يفترض أنها ناشطة للعدالة الاجتماعية الدينية غير واضحة للغاية.من أجل القيام بذلك ، تكتب كما لو أن الأنبياء العظماء (عيسى ومحمد) والمفكرين الدينيين (الحاخامات الأوائل ابتعدو كل البعد عن المجادلات بالرغم من تناقض الكاتبة كما تستنتج أن "المسلمين استعادوا مدينتهم لأن الصليبيين أصبحوا محاصرين في حلم الكراهية والتعصب.
5- الحكم الاسلامي للمدينة
يمكن اعتبار فترة الحكم الاسلامي للمدينة فترة ازدهار وقوة وعدالة ومساواة تمتع فبها المسيحيوت واليهود والمسلمون فالتاريخ يثبت ان اهلها استقبلو الفاتحين المسلمي.واتخذت المدينة منذ ذلك الحين طابعها الإسلامي واهتم بها الأمويون وشهدت نهضة علمية في مختلف الميادين. ومن أهم الآثار الإسلامية في تلك الفترة مسجد قبة الصخرة الذي بناه عبد الملك بن مروان وأعيد بناء المسجد الأقصى عام 709م، وشهدت المدينة بعد ذلك عدم استقرار بسبب الصراعات العسكرية التي نشبت بين العباسيون والفاطميين والقرامطة، وخضعت القدس لحكم السلاجقةاستطاع صلاح الدين الأيوبي استرداد القدس من الصليبيين عام 1187م بعد معركة حطين، وعامل أهلها معاملة طيبة، وأزال الصليب عن قبة الصخرة، واهتم بعمارة المدينة وتحصينه.
لقد تحدثت الكاتبة بعمق عن هذه الفترة وطالبت المواطن الغرب ان يفهن التاريخ فاذا ابتعدنا عن الفتح الاسلامي الاول نجد الكاتبة تتحدث ان الفتح الاسلاني الثاني بقادة صلاح الدين جاء لان الناس اصبهم الملل من حكم الفرتجة وفسقهم المسلمون كانو فاتحيين ولم يكونو محتليين لتلك المدينة
.
# راي القارئ
هذا الكتاب الثاني من سلسلة نقاشات نادي اقرا لعام 2021
فكرة الكتاب فكرة جيدة لانه اعطى تفصيلا لمدينة بثلاث اديان سماوية مدينة يحكمها الهلال والصليب والشمع دان ترى فيها جميع الملل والكل موحد لرب الادبان
يوجد بعض الاطالة في الكتاب وذكر التفاصيل كا من الممكن ان تختصر بعضا من الصفحات ربما لان الكتاب تاريخي وفي التاريخ كل شيئ مطلوب
اعجنبني بداية الكتاب مع صهيون والفصل الاخير تكرار العنوان صهيون لا هذه المدينة ابتليت بصهيون لكن انتقد فكرة دخولها بالاسرائيليات فقد تعمقت الكاتبة في هذا المجال واطالت والاسرائيليات فيها تعريف عميق
اسلوب الكاتبة كان اسلوبا توثيقبا ونشكر المترجم الذي تمكن من تقل الكتاب الى القارئ العربي
شعرت ان الكاتبة انصفت الاسلام في المدينة فلقد وضخت ان الفتوحات الاسلاممية لم تكن حروبا من اجل المال واما من اجل الدعوة
اسم الكتاب: القدس مدينة واحدة ثلاث عقائد Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
اسم المؤلف: كارين ارمسترونج : Karen Armstrong,
التصنيف: كتاب تاريخي – عقائدي
مدينة القدس:
في القدس السماءُ تَفَرَّقَتْ في الناسِ تحمينا ونحميها
ونحملُها على أكتافِنا حَمْلاً إذا جَارَت على أقمارِها الأزمانْ
في القدس أعمدةُ الرُّخامِ الداكناتُ
كأنَّ تعريقَ الرُّخامِ دخانْ
ونوافذٌ تعلو المساجدَ والكنائس،
أَمْسَكَتْ بيدِ الصُّباحِ تُرِيهِ كيفَ النقشُ بالألوانِ
،
ان تربط كتاب لباحث ديني اجنبي بقصيدة مثل قصيدة تميم البرغوثي شيئ كبير لان الكتاب والقصيدة اظهرا تعقيدات المدينة تلك المدينة المقدسة لثلاث اديان سماوية وان كانت محرمة على احداها لانها لم تصن المدينة والا لمى احتلتهاعامة1967 تلك المدينة الحزينة التي تعاني مدينة القبة الصفراء والصليب الذهبي مدينة الحب والسلام تلك المدينىة التي اكملت الرسالة مع بيت لحم انها القدس فيا كاتب التاريخ مهلا في القدس لكني لا ارى بالقدس الا انت.
# كارين ارمسترونج
هي باحثة بريطانية في الاديان ابتعدت عن الكاثوليكية واتبعت التصوف المسيحي لانه اقرب الى التصوف الاسلامي لها العديد من الكتب التي تتحدث عن مقارتة الاديان.
# وصف الكتاب
القدس مدينة واحدة عقائد ثلاث من اصدار مكتبة الاسكندرية 1998 بنسخته العربية وصدرت طبعته الاولى باللغة الانكليزية 1996 بعدد صفحات 720 صفحة وثماتية عشر فصلا بدات بصهيون وانتهت بصهيون فهل قدر المدينة ان تبتلى بيهود .في البداية تلقي المؤلفة الضوء على نشأة بني "إسرائيل" والرد على المزاعم الواردة في كتبهم الدينية وخاصة كتابهم المقدس والذي يقرر أن بني "إسرائيل" هم قوم جاءوا أصلاً من بلاد ما بين النهرين واستقروا فترة ما في أرض كنعان ثم هاجرت قبائل بني "إسرائيل" الاثنتي عشرة,والي ذالك من الحقائق التاريخية عن الاديان الثلاث ونشأتها في ارض واحدة
# صفحات الكتاب
1. الفترة الزمنية للكتاب:
تمتد الفترة الزمنة للكتاب من سيدنا ابراهيم واليوبوسيون والفترة التي عاشها الى هذا الزمن 2021 بالرغم من صدور الكتاب 1996 ولكن المدينة محتلة نعم محتلة وتعاني من عام 1967 نظرة مدروسة على تاريخ القدس - مدينة مقدسة لليهود والمسيحيين والمسلمين. تتعقب كارين أرمسترونج تاريخها وتتتبع كيف ومتى تصبح المدينة "مقدسة". إنها مدينة تم احتلالها وتدميرها وإعادة بنائها مرات لا تحصى في الماضي. ومع ذلك ، لا يزال الناس ينجذبون إليه. سواء أكان مؤمنًا بإحدى الديانات الثلاث أم لا ، تستمر القدس في لعب دور محوري في السياسة العالمية اليوم. من المهم أن نفهم أنه بالنسبة للمؤمنين ، هو مركز الأرض بعد مكة والمدينة
2. مفترق طرق:
تقف مدينة القدس كمفترق طرق ديني لا مثيل لها في أي مكان في التاريخ. على هذا النحو ، فهي تمتلك كيمياء متقلبة تنفجر بشكل منتظم - كما نتحقق بشكل مؤلم من خلال التقارير الإخبارية والتلفزيون.يوجد سرد شامل لتاريخ المدينة الرائع الممتد على مدى 3000 عام. على الرغم من نقاط التحول الدينية في المدينة ، مثل المعارك والزلازل وأحداث أخرى مختلفة ، مثل غزوات الرومان والصليبيين ، التي تفصل بينها ألف عام فقط ، والتي كادت تقضي على المدينة. توفر تفسيراتها الشاملة سياقًا للصراع الحالي في إسرائيل.
3. جمال المدينة:
للقدس مدينة جميلة علينا ان نحاول فهم تلك المدينة التي مزقتها النزاعات. موضوعها الشامل ، أن القدس كانت مركزية للتجربة و "الجغرافيا المقدسة" لليهود والمسلمين والمسيحيين ، وبالتالي أدت إلى صراعات مميتة من أجل الهيمنة ، نعم الهيمنة من قبل كل الغزاة الذين دخلو المدينة وحاولو الاستيلاء عليها ظلما اذا ابتعدما عن القنح الاسلامي للمدينة لانها اخذت العدل والامان خلال هذا الفتح ، فاذا توجهنا الى ظروف المدبنة السياسية والاجتماعية والثقافية نرى الديانات التوحيدية الثلاثة في نقدها لسياسات التعصب لأنها تفكر في المفارقة الكبرى بأن المدينة المقدسة ، التي يحظى بها المؤمنون كرمز وموقع للوئام والتكامل ، كانت مكانًا مثيرًا للجدل حيث تقاتل الأديان بازستمرار ، اليهودية والمسيجية والاسلام وليس فقط مع بعضهم البعض لكن بينهم ايضا وقد . إدانت الكاتبة لضم إسرائيل للمدينة القديمة والقدس الشرقية عام 1967 في حرب الأيام الستة ("كان من المستحيل على الإسرائيليين رؤية الأمر بموضوعية ، لأنهم واجهوا الروح اليهودية عند [الحائط الغربي]") ، تدفع موضوعها للجغرافيا المقدسة بعيدًا جدًا باعتباره التجسيد المادي لتحفيز الأساطير والأساطير. - لقد واجهوا الروح اليهودية ")
4. العدالة الاحتماعية:
ربما افضل تشبيه للحياة داخل المدينة الاشتراكية ولكن لماذا هي دون غيرها لانك ترى الجميع مشتركون في كل شيئ عليك تقبل الاخر لتعيش ربما يمكن تطبيق هذا النوع بين ت المسلمون والمسيحيون لكن لايمكن تطبيقه مع اليهود لاعتقادهم انهم من يملكون المدينة فالدارس لمدينة القدس يرى إنها تريد معارضة التطرف الديني من الاديان الثلاث ، التركيز على "العدالة الاجتماعية" ينسجم أيضًا بشكل غير مريح مع الانطباع العام بأنه إذا كان الجميع متصوفين فقط بشأن تجربتهم الدينية مثل الصوفيين ، فسيكون كل شيء على ما يرام. تبدأ المشاكل فقط عندما تحاول الخروج إلى العالم والقيام بشيء ما على أساس قناعاتك. إن كيفية التوفيق بين ذلك وبين المبادئ التي يفترض أنها ناشطة للعدالة الاجتماعية الدينية غير واضحة للغاية.من أجل القيام بذلك ، تكتب كما لو أن الأنبياء العظماء (عيسى ومحمد) والمفكرين الدينيين (الحاخامات الأوائل ابتعدو كل البعد عن المجادلات بالرغم من تناقض الكاتبة كما تستنتج أن "المسلمين استعادوا مدينتهم لأن الصليبيين أصبحوا محاصرين في حلم الكراهية والتعصب.
5- الحكم الاسلامي للمدينة
يمكن اعتبار فترة الحكم الاسلامي للمدينة فترة ازدهار وقوة وعدالة ومساواة تمتع فبها المسيحيوت واليهود والمسلمون فالتاريخ يثبت ان اهلها استقبلو الفاتحين المسلمي.واتخذت المدينة منذ ذلك الحين طابعها الإسلامي واهتم بها الأمويون وشهدت نهضة علمية في مختلف الميادين. ومن أهم الآثار الإسلامية في تلك الفترة مسجد قبة الصخرة الذي بناه عبد الملك بن مروان وأعيد بناء المسجد الأقصى عام 709م، وشهدت المدينة بعد ذلك عدم استقرار بسبب الصراعات العسكرية التي نشبت بين العباسيون والفاطميين والقرامطة، وخضعت القدس لحكم السلاجقةاستطاع صلاح الدين الأيوبي استرداد القدس من الصليبيين عام 1187م بعد معركة حطين، وعامل أهلها معاملة طيبة، وأزال الصليب عن قبة الصخرة، واهتم بعمارة المدينة وتحصينه.
لقد تحدثت الكاتبة بعمق عن هذه الفترة وطالبت المواطن الغرب ان يفهن التاريخ فاذا ابتعدنا عن الفتح الاسلامي الاول نجد الكاتبة تتحدث ان الفتح الاسلاني الثاني بقادة صلاح الدين جاء لان الناس اصبهم الملل من حكم الفرتجة وفسقهم المسلمون كانو فاتحيين ولم يكونو محتليين لتلك المدينة
.
# راي القارئ
هذا الكتاب الثاني من سلسلة نقاشات نادي اقرا لعام 2021
فكرة الكتاب فكرة جيدة لانه اعطى تفصيلا لمدينة بثلاث اديان سماوية مدينة يحكمها الهلال والصليب والشمع دان ترى فيها جميع الملل والكل موحد لرب الادبان
يوجد بعض الاطالة في الكتاب وذكر التفاصيل كا من الممكن ان تختصر بعضا من الصفحات ربما لان الكتاب تاريخي وفي التاريخ كل شيئ مطلوب
اعجنبني بداية الكتاب مع صهيون والفصل الاخير تكرار العنوان صهيون لا هذه المدينة ابتليت بصهيون لكن انتقد فكرة دخولها بالاسرائيليات فقد تعمقت الكاتبة في هذا المجال واطالت والاسرائيليات فيها تعريف عميق
اسلوب الكاتبة كان اسلوبا توثيقبا ونشكر المترجم الذي تمكن من تقل الكتاب الى القارئ العربي
شعرت ان الكاتبة انصفت الاسلام في المدينة فلقد وضخت ان الفتوحات الاسلاممية لم تكن حروبا من اجل المال واما من اجل الدعوة
October 17, 2025
বইটা সম্পর্কে আসলে কী লেখা উচিত, বুঝতে পারছি না। কারেন আর্মস্ট্রংয়ের লেখা পড়লাম এই প্রথম। বইটা ইনফরমেটিভ এবং রিসোর্সফুল; সন্দেহ নেই। কিন্তু এ ধরনের ধর্মীয় ইতিহাসের বই ইনফরমেটিভ হওয়ার পাশাপাশি নিরপেক্ষতা থাকা চাই। স্বল্প জ্ঞান নিয়ে সেটা যাচাই করাও উচিত না। বাকিদের রিভিউ পড়েও বোঝা যাচ্ছে না সেটা🙃
January 17, 2012
An absolutely essential book if you want to have a prayer of understanding all the violence in the Holy Land. Whether you're Jewish, Christian, Muslim, not religious at all or belong to entirely different faith, this book puts the history out there in a full readable way. This is for a layperson, someone who might not be a scholor and so does not have as much knowledge of Isreal's past, it's politcal upheavals and why things so often result in bloodshed.
If you only listen to the pundits on TV, it's VERY easy to just say "Well it's the Muslim's fault!" but unfortunately for everyone who is invested in peddeling that version of their own truth, it's simply not the case. All 3 of the Abrahamic faiths have had their hand in making Jerusalem, and Isreal itself into the conflict ridden place it is today. This book clears away the uneducated opinions and gives you the unvarnished truth. And then, what you do with it... is now up to you.
Also, this book could be considered the first in a trilogy of sorts about the histories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I'm currently reading the last volume in said trilogy and HIGHLY recommend reading all three. You won't regret it and you'll come away with an ability to know when someone is just pushing an agenda on you and not the facts.
If you only listen to the pundits on TV, it's VERY easy to just say "Well it's the Muslim's fault!" but unfortunately for everyone who is invested in peddeling that version of their own truth, it's simply not the case. All 3 of the Abrahamic faiths have had their hand in making Jerusalem, and Isreal itself into the conflict ridden place it is today. This book clears away the uneducated opinions and gives you the unvarnished truth. And then, what you do with it... is now up to you.
Also, this book could be considered the first in a trilogy of sorts about the histories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I'm currently reading the last volume in said trilogy and HIGHLY recommend reading all three. You won't regret it and you'll come away with an ability to know when someone is just pushing an agenda on you and not the facts.
October 30, 2024
القدس ليست مدينةواحدة تتقاسمهاعقائد ثلاث، بل منذ نشأتها وهي مدينة مقسمة، منكوبة، إقصائية، تطرد سكانها لتستقبل الغرباء، من المفترض أن تكون مدينة سلام لكنها دوماً ساحة للمعارك والقتال باسم الله من كل الديانات والطوائف ومن يظن أنه امتلكها فقد فقدها.
كارين أرمسترونج، الكاتبة، كانت منصفة لحد كبير في كتابها، أظهرت كل جانب في صراعات القدس الكثيرة دون تجميل أو تقبيح، لكن ذلك لم يشفع لها لدي المترجمين اللذين كانت تعليقاتهما مستفزة في بعض الأحيان.
الكتاب ملئ بالأخطاء خصوصًا بعد الفصل التاسع، قد نتجاوز عن همزة، نقطة، حرف لكن أخطاء التواريخ كارثية.
مكتبة الأسرة لازم تذلنا لأن الكتاب بـ 6.5 جنيه
كارين أرمسترونج، الكاتبة، كانت منصفة لحد كبير في كتابها، أظهرت كل جانب في صراعات القدس الكثيرة دون تجميل أو تقبيح، لكن ذلك لم يشفع لها لدي المترجمين اللذين كانت تعليقاتهما مستفزة في بعض الأحيان.
الكتاب ملئ بالأخطاء خصوصًا بعد الفصل التاسع، قد نتجاوز عن همزة، نقطة، حرف لكن أخطاء التواريخ كارثية.
مكتبة الأسرة لازم تذلنا لأن الكتاب بـ 6.5 جنيه
February 20, 2007
A bit biased, and almost too religiously oriented. Armstrong is a fantastically thorough author and is obviously knowledgeable about the material. For a non-religious reader, it's often difficult when she digresses into the secular diatribes. But the historical basis of the book is strong.
March 10, 2008
Pertama, tentu saja saya kagum dengan ketekunan Karen Armstrong menuliskan buku yang kaya referensi ini. Buku ini mencoba mencari akar sejarah mengapa Jerusalem, sebuah kota di kawasan Timur Tengah, selalu diklaim dan diperebutkan oleh tiga agama besar, Islam, Kristen dan Yahudi. yang menarik, Karen Armstrong mempertanyakan, bila Jerusalem memang dianggap kota suci, mengapa para pemeluk tiga agama ini tidak memperlakukan kota ini dengan suci pula, maksudnya, membebaskan kota ini dari pertumpahan darah, peperangan, dll. Kita tahu, hampir sepanjang usianya, kota ini selalu diwarnai peperangan, perebutan, dll.
Tetapi,ada satu kritik saya terhadap buku ini. Di sini, Armstrong mencoba memandang seperti apa jerusalem dari sudut pandang tiga agama besar, namun sayang pada beberapa bagian sejarah, yang versi Islamnya kurang diperhatikan. Maaf, kalo dalam hal ini saya kelupaan. tapi, saya melihat kisah nabi Sulaiman diceritakan versi bibelnya, mengapa tak dimasukkan pula versi Islamnya. Begitu juga halnya kisah tentang Nabi Daud, dan peristiwa penyembelihan Ismail. Tapi, apapun itu, buku ini tetap saja patut dipuji sebagai sebuah hasil karya besar.
Tetapi,ada satu kritik saya terhadap buku ini. Di sini, Armstrong mencoba memandang seperti apa jerusalem dari sudut pandang tiga agama besar, namun sayang pada beberapa bagian sejarah, yang versi Islamnya kurang diperhatikan. Maaf, kalo dalam hal ini saya kelupaan. tapi, saya melihat kisah nabi Sulaiman diceritakan versi bibelnya, mengapa tak dimasukkan pula versi Islamnya. Begitu juga halnya kisah tentang Nabi Daud, dan peristiwa penyembelihan Ismail. Tapi, apapun itu, buku ini tetap saja patut dipuji sebagai sebuah hasil karya besar.
March 29, 2020
It's absurd to call this objective history. I am very sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians too, but a work of history is no place for politics. The author's own opinions were so obvious that I would be surprised if anyone could take this as a balanced perspective. On the other hand, the text is very approachable, so it is probably appealing to those of us who do not normally read history. I would prefer something more scholarly, however, and I could really do without the bias, which in the end is only insulting to the reader's intelligence.
October 15, 2023
Неплохая информативная книга, дающая общее представление об истории Иерусалима, начиная с давних времен и заканчивая 1995 годом. Конечно, с тех пор много нового успело напроисходить, но изложенные автором данные никак не теряют от этого своей актуальности.
Вообще, история Иерусалима никогда не была мирной или спокойной. На протяжении веков Святая Земля становилась свидетелем самых ужасных преступлений, многие из которых, к сожалению, совершались под прикрытием религии и благочестия, что возводит и без того ужасные трагедии в еще более немыслимые и жестокие формы. И в этом, на мой взгляд, заключается большой парадокс, который никак не хочет укладываться в голове. Кажется, будто за всеми формальными/практическими исполнениями заповедей, которые, безусловно, важны и нужны, люди забывают саму основу веры, которая является ядром любой религии, любого духовного учения - это любовь, доброта и стремление к миру. Само слово «Иерусалим» звучит на иврите как «Йерушалаим», в основе которого лежит слово «шалом», то есть «мир». К сожалению, это именно то, чего в Иерусалиме никогда не было.
«Владение святынями и почитание Святого города ничего не стоят без справедливости и уважения к людям иной веры.» (с)
Данная книга рассказывает о нелегких и грустных исторических событиях, о сложном конфликте и его истоках. Это история о том, как последователи трех основных религий, приложившие силы к созданию Иерусалима в определенный период, пытаются ужиться бок о бок в самом святом городе, но, к сожалению, у них это не очень получается. Годы идут, поколения сменяются, а проблемы - всё те же…
Большое впечатление производит размах исследовательской работы автора, уходящей своими корнями вглубь каждой из трех монотеистических религий. Дается хороший экскурс в историю мировоззрений этих верований, хотя, положа руку на сердце, в некоторых местах можно почувствовать определенную степень субъективности автора. Впрочем, вполне возможно, что мне, как человеку, который бОльшую часть своей жизни глядел на всю ситуацию под одним привычным углом, присутствие субъективности и личных симпатий автора лишь показалось.
Помимо непосредственно исторической составляющей, эта книга будет интересна всем, кто небезразличен (в позитивном смысле этого слова:) к религии.
А вот хейтерам теологии данная вещь вряд ли понравится, так как по всему тексту будет встречаться немало отсылок к религиозной тематике, Святым Писаниям и тд, - ну это ведь как-никак Иерусалим.
Книга не дает оценки, она лишь помогает читателю приобрести некоторые знания относительно истории Ближнего Востока, а так же дает шанс поглядеть на ситуацию другими глазами. Что делать с полученной информацией дальше, как расценивать все происходящее - решать читателю. Кристально понятно лишь одно: насилием, ненавистью, жаждой мести и радостью/ликованием от боли и страданий людей «на той стороне» решить ничего нельзя. Важно всегда оставаться людьми. Это единственная возможность решить этот тяжелый, кажущийся вечным, конфликт. А еще, необходимо помнить, что у обезумевших и ослепленных яростью фанатиков нет ни религии, ни национальности.
«Забыв о главной обязанности верующего человека – уважать Б-га в другом человеке, люди начинают любые свои желания и предрассудки оправдывать волей «Божьей». И тогда религия питает жестокость и насилие.» (с)
Вообще, история Иерусалима никогда не была мирной или спокойной. На протяжении веков Святая Земля становилась свидетелем самых ужасных преступлений, многие из которых, к сожалению, совершались под прикрытием религии и благочестия, что возводит и без того ужасные трагедии в еще более немыслимые и жестокие формы. И в этом, на мой взгляд, заключается большой парадокс, который никак не хочет укладываться в голове. Кажется, будто за всеми формальными/практическими исполнениями заповедей, которые, безусловно, важны и нужны, люди забывают саму основу веры, которая является ядром любой религии, любого духовного учения - это любовь, доброта и стремление к миру. Само слово «Иерусалим» звучит на иврите как «Йерушалаим», в основе которого лежит слово «шалом», то есть «мир». К сожалению, это именно то, чего в Иерусалиме никогда не было.
«Владение святынями и почитание Святого города ничего не стоят без справедливости и уважения к людям иной веры.» (с)
Данная книга рассказывает о нелегких и грустных исторических событиях, о сложном конфликте и его истоках. Это история о том, как последователи трех основных религий, приложившие силы к созданию Иерусалима в определенный период, пытаются ужиться бок о бок в самом святом городе, но, к сожалению, у них это не очень получается. Годы идут, поколения сменяются, а проблемы - всё те же…
Большое впечатление производит размах исследовательской работы автора, уходящей своими корнями вглубь каждой из трех монотеистических религий. Дается хороший экскурс в историю мировоззрений этих верований, хотя, положа руку на сердце, в некоторых местах можно почувствовать определенную степень субъективности автора. Впрочем, вполне возможно, что мне, как человеку, который бОльшую часть своей жизни глядел на всю ситуацию под одним привычным углом, присутствие субъективности и личных симпатий автора лишь показалось.
Помимо непосредственно исторической составляющей, эта книга будет интересна всем, кто небезразличен (в позитивном смысле этого слова:) к религии.
А вот хейтерам теологии данная вещь вряд ли понравится, так как по всему тексту будет встречаться немало отсылок к религиозной тематике, Святым Писаниям и тд, - ну это ведь как-никак Иерусалим.
Книга не дает оценки, она лишь помогает читателю приобрести некоторые знания относительно истории Ближнего Востока, а так же дает шанс поглядеть на ситуацию другими глазами. Что делать с полученной информацией дальше, как расценивать все происходящее - решать читателю. Кристально понятно лишь одно: насилием, ненавистью, жаждой мести и радостью/ликованием от боли и страданий людей «на той стороне» решить ничего нельзя. Важно всегда оставаться людьми. Это единственная возможность решить этот тяжелый, кажущийся вечным, конфликт. А еще, необходимо помнить, что у обезумевших и ослепленных яростью фанатиков нет ни религии, ни национальности.
«Забыв о главной обязанности верующего человека – уважать Б-га в другом человеке, люди начинают любые свои желания и предрассудки оправдывать волей «Божьей». И тогда религия питает жестокость и насилие.» (с)
July 24, 2016
This book really deserved 3 stars plus. There were parts that I really liked and other parts not so much. Armstrong is a good writer and unlike some other reviewers I don't think she is that biased. There were times when I would have chosen less subjective words, but overall I think her treatment is fair.
The problem I have is with the scope of the book. Because Jerusalem is so centrally located to the beginnings of civilization and so important to all three Abrahamic faiths, it impacted, and was impacted by, huge portions of world history. Ideally, an author would give sufficient background to place each of the events in the context of history, but this would have required a much longer book. Consequently, in the areas where I knew more and had more context I enjoyed the book more. This included ancient history, the beginnings of all three religions, and the 20th century, but starting around 1000 CE my knowledge is more sketchy. Specifically, I wish I had known more about the Byzantine Empire and the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. (I'll definitely look into fixing this!)
Overall, I think the book is good and worth reading. However, I would recommend it for filling in gaps rather than as a foundation for the history of Palestine and Jerusalem.
One last thing. The description of the book says that Armstrong "combines the pageant of history with the profundity of searching spiritual analysis." So, it is not strictly a history book and in my opinion she does become a little preachy in the last few pages of the book. That being said, there is a lot of great history here.
The problem I have is with the scope of the book. Because Jerusalem is so centrally located to the beginnings of civilization and so important to all three Abrahamic faiths, it impacted, and was impacted by, huge portions of world history. Ideally, an author would give sufficient background to place each of the events in the context of history, but this would have required a much longer book. Consequently, in the areas where I knew more and had more context I enjoyed the book more. This included ancient history, the beginnings of all three religions, and the 20th century, but starting around 1000 CE my knowledge is more sketchy. Specifically, I wish I had known more about the Byzantine Empire and the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. (I'll definitely look into fixing this!)
Overall, I think the book is good and worth reading. However, I would recommend it for filling in gaps rather than as a foundation for the history of Palestine and Jerusalem.
One last thing. The description of the book says that Armstrong "combines the pageant of history with the profundity of searching spiritual analysis." So, it is not strictly a history book and in my opinion she does become a little preachy in the last few pages of the book. That being said, there is a lot of great history here.
April 20, 2012
Karen Armstrong made the Bible come alive for me this year during Holy Week, when I read this book. She traces the history of the city (which was conquered by King David and only then added to the Kingdom of Israel) and the evolving faith of people who have lived there, primarily Jews, Christians and Muslims. Revered today as a holy city, the ancient town was an indefensible village in the mountains, far from trade routes and inhabitable only because of water that flowed beneath it. Over the centuries it was conquered, destroyed, lost and won, repeatedly by all sides. Some leaders allowed inhabitants to keep their religions, others chased out infidels; strikingly, Christians rarely behaved like Christians towards each other or the Muslims and Jews who shared the Holy City. Armstrong traces both the historical and spiritual context of the events that shaped the people and the city. By explaining the living-history experiences of the inhabitants as well as the evolving spirituality of each major religion, Armstrong reveals how sacred geography effects us and changes the course of human events.
October 17, 2022
Armstrong's book is a superb history, eminently readable and supremely educational. Her writing style and vocabulary are exemplary and that part made it a joy to read. I also found myself understanding (for the first time) basic tenets of Islam, the differences between various Jewish sects, and the importance of the Orthodox and Armenians in preserving some holy shrines. Armstrong, a former nun, also pulls no punches in condemning the murderous Crusades. (She believes, as I do, that much of the hostility in the Mideast has the Crusades at its root.) She calls out the extremists in all three faiths and is realistically pessimistic about the chance for peace in Jerusalem based on the rise of that religious extremism. She points out the hypocrisy of people who were victims of oppression and hatred now heaping that oppression and hatred on others. The situation in Jerusalem is exceedingly complex, and it has been for the millennia of its existence. Armstrong's well-researched book and helpful use of maps succeeds in making some sense of this muddle. Highly recommended for anyone interested in history, comparative religion, and the fragility of the Mideast.
October 23, 2013
This is what happens when someone with a Literature degree and a religious background tries to write history: you end up with long boring poetical gobbledeegook that isn't remotely historical, but masquerades as such.
October 29, 2023
Фільм Рідлі Скотта «Царство небесне» 2005 року про події 1175-1187 років й захоплення Єрусалиму Салах ад-Діном - султаном Єгипту та Сирії, я дивилася разів 10) Не менше) Можливо, більше))
Там є слова:
- Чого вартий Єрусалим?
- Нічого.
- І всього!
Я давно шукала хорошу книжку про історію Єрусалиму.
І з того вартісного, що я б хотіла почитати, ніяк не вдавалося)
Коли кілька років назад я нарешті отримала цю, я не змогла прочитати більше 30 сторінок.
Закрила й поставила на полицю.
Але книги часто знаходять нас тоді, коли потрібно)
Історія міста, яке вважають Святою землею три релігії.
В фактах, цифрах.
Багато несподіваного.
А ще є над чим подумати)))
З тих книг, які настільки насичені фактами та інформацією, а ще змістом - і не завжди він на поверхні, - що читаються дуже поволі.
Але воно того варте.
#451deepreading
June 11, 2013
When judging someone's ideas, I usually try my hardest to consider the circumstances from which they're writing. I'm usually biased towards vaguely socialist types, but I'm aware that a socialist-like idea will mean two very different things, depending on whether it's written by someone in Stalinist Russia, or by someone in Reagan's America. This approach is, I think, morally preferable, inasmuch as I'm less likely to jump to outrageous judgments on people (I'm otherwise very likely to do so). It's also intellectually preferable: for instance, if you read Hobbes without thinking about the people and situation to which he was responding, you'll probably end up thinking he was arguing for a kind of divine right theory of politics. In fact, he was arguing against it.
This long prologue is necessary because I have tried, and failed, to apply this principle to Armstrong's very detailed but wildly biased book about the history of Jerusalem. Her context is very clear: she wants to oppose the silliness of late 20th century Islamophobia and militant Zionism, as well as the 'conservative' (though they're not very into conserving things) appropriation of religion. In order to do this, she writes as if the great prophets (Jesus, Mohammed) and religious thinkers (early Rabbis) were more or less interested *only* in 'social justice,' and that their thought then got perverted by a bunch of, well, conservatives. Sadly none of that is true, and her repeated claims to the contrary make this book almost unreadable and often highly misleading: for instance, she concludes that "the Muslims got their city back because the Crusaders became trapped in a dream of hatred and intolerance." Actually, the 'Muslims' got 'their' city back because 'the Crusaders' split up into a bunch of squabbling little princedoms, and eventually their on and off treaties with a wide variety of Islamic neighbors (intolerance?) were a bad defense. Far from hatred and intolerance being 'the crusaders'' downfall, it was tolerance and friendliness. But that doesn't make for quite the same story.
The focus on 'social justice' also sits very uncomfortably with the general impression that if everyone was only mystical about their religious experience like the sufis, everything would be fine. It's only when you try to go out into the world and do something on the basis of your convictions that the problems start. How to reconcile that with the presumably activist principles of religious social justice is very unclear.
Also, the first few chapters are far, far, far, far too long and I can only assume just as misleading as the middle chapters.
This is a shame, because the idea for the book is a good one, and if you can filter out the nonsense, it's not particularly biased in any one direction. The bits on sacred place are nice, though obviously contribute, too, to much silliness (e.g., if only we all got back to worshiping places, religion would stop being the source of division... erm, no).
This long prologue is necessary because I have tried, and failed, to apply this principle to Armstrong's very detailed but wildly biased book about the history of Jerusalem. Her context is very clear: she wants to oppose the silliness of late 20th century Islamophobia and militant Zionism, as well as the 'conservative' (though they're not very into conserving things) appropriation of religion. In order to do this, she writes as if the great prophets (Jesus, Mohammed) and religious thinkers (early Rabbis) were more or less interested *only* in 'social justice,' and that their thought then got perverted by a bunch of, well, conservatives. Sadly none of that is true, and her repeated claims to the contrary make this book almost unreadable and often highly misleading: for instance, she concludes that "the Muslims got their city back because the Crusaders became trapped in a dream of hatred and intolerance." Actually, the 'Muslims' got 'their' city back because 'the Crusaders' split up into a bunch of squabbling little princedoms, and eventually their on and off treaties with a wide variety of Islamic neighbors (intolerance?) were a bad defense. Far from hatred and intolerance being 'the crusaders'' downfall, it was tolerance and friendliness. But that doesn't make for quite the same story.
The focus on 'social justice' also sits very uncomfortably with the general impression that if everyone was only mystical about their religious experience like the sufis, everything would be fine. It's only when you try to go out into the world and do something on the basis of your convictions that the problems start. How to reconcile that with the presumably activist principles of religious social justice is very unclear.
Also, the first few chapters are far, far, far, far too long and I can only assume just as misleading as the middle chapters.
This is a shame, because the idea for the book is a good one, and if you can filter out the nonsense, it's not particularly biased in any one direction. The bits on sacred place are nice, though obviously contribute, too, to much silliness (e.g., if only we all got back to worshiping places, religion would stop being the source of division... erm, no).
December 16, 2007
Amazon.com
The city of Jerusalem stands as a religious crossroads unlike any place in history. As such, it possesses a volatile chemistry that--as we are made painfully through news reports and television--explodes on a regular basis. Karen Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who teaches Judaism and is an honorary member of the Association of Muslim Social Services, has compiled a thorough narrative of the city's fascinating 3,000-year history. Though she emphasizes the city's religious turning points, she recounts battles, earthquakes and various other events, such as invasions by the Romans and the Crusaders, just a millennium apart, that nearly wiped out the city. Her comprehensive explanations provide a context to the current strife in Israel. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
From Publishers Weekly
British religious scholar Armstrong (A History of God) has written a provocative, splendid historical portrait of Jerusalem that will reward those seeking to fathom a strife-torn city. Her overarching theme, that Jerusalem has been central to the experience and "sacred geography" of Jews, Muslims and Christians and thus has led to deadly struggles for dominance, is a familiar one, yet she brings to her sweeping, profusely illustrated narrative a grasp of sociopolitical conditions seldom found in other books. Armstrong spares none of the three monotheisms in her critique of intolerant policies as she ponders the supreme irony that the Holy City, revered by the faithful as symbol and site of harmony and integration, has been a contentious place where the faiths have fought constantly, not only with one another but within themselves, in bitter factions. Her condemnation of Israel's 1967 annexation of the Old City and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War ("It was impossible for Israelis to see the matter objectively, since at the [Western Wall] they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends.-- they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --
The city of Jerusalem stands as a religious crossroads unlike any place in history. As such, it possesses a volatile chemistry that--as we are made painfully through news reports and television--explodes on a regular basis. Karen Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who teaches Judaism and is an honorary member of the Association of Muslim Social Services, has compiled a thorough narrative of the city's fascinating 3,000-year history. Though she emphasizes the city's religious turning points, she recounts battles, earthquakes and various other events, such as invasions by the Romans and the Crusaders, just a millennium apart, that nearly wiped out the city. Her comprehensive explanations provide a context to the current strife in Israel. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
From Publishers Weekly
British religious scholar Armstrong (A History of God) has written a provocative, splendid historical portrait of Jerusalem that will reward those seeking to fathom a strife-torn city. Her overarching theme, that Jerusalem has been central to the experience and "sacred geography" of Jews, Muslims and Christians and thus has led to deadly struggles for dominance, is a familiar one, yet she brings to her sweeping, profusely illustrated narrative a grasp of sociopolitical conditions seldom found in other books. Armstrong spares none of the three monotheisms in her critique of intolerant policies as she ponders the supreme irony that the Holy City, revered by the faithful as symbol and site of harmony and integration, has been a contentious place where the faiths have fought constantly, not only with one another but within themselves, in bitter factions. Her condemnation of Israel's 1967 annexation of the Old City and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War ("It was impossible for Israelis to see the matter objectively, since at the [Western Wall] they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends.-- they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --
July 5, 2017
جهد عظيم من آرمسترونج و دراسة تستحق القراءة للمهتمّين و الترجمة وتعليقات المترجمَيْن من أفضل مايكون.
January 10, 2009
This is an excellent book, most particular in its cogent synthesising of all the latest scholarship but also in the patient explanations of the importance of that sense of place in religion - something never so pertinent as in the city of Jerusalem. Armstrong also takes pains to pick apart some of the beliefs and misunderstandings surrounded some of the most contentious sites in the city, and provides illuminating information on the earliest peoples of the land. Essential for anyone keen to obtain a deeper understanding of what, rightly or wrongly, guides people to fight so passionately, and so continually, for the city.
August 17, 2012
My favorite book by Karen Armstrong. Tells the story of Jerusalem from the earliest Hebrew times through the Romans , the Crusades and to the modern day Israel/Palestine. Great book for anyone seeking to understand a part of the Middle East conflict.
July 11, 2011
The rise and fall of the many cultures/civilizations/religions that have dominated in Jerusalem from B.C. to present. It is a microcosm of the history of the mid east.
April 27, 2012
توجد له ترجمة جيدة بالعربية
April 15, 2013
Another classic about the history of Western religion. I am a great fan of Armstrong's personal writing style, but I admit that it is a matter of taste.
February 28, 2016
Complete history of Jerusalem from the very beginning till to-date, this book is really helpful in understanding the current day situation of Middle East.
February 3, 2017
Historical details good but very biased against Judaism and Christianity as opposed to Islam in unnecessary commentary
Read
January 6, 2020I just find her such an insipid writer. The introduction to this book for example has one after the other broad, universalizing statements so broad as to be rendered meaningless. She consistently erases the personal Deity in favor of this watered down new age pabulum of "spirituality", pushes for all forms of the sacred and all Deities to be interchangeable without consideration for the deeply flawed premise this pushes, one based in monotheistic hegemony, colonialism, and appropriation and in the end, there seems to be an almost willful naivete in her work that sets my teeth on edge. I liked her first book "Through the Narrow Gate" quite a bit but I can't help but wonder if everything else she's written isn't her working out her angst over her failure as a nun.
Good reads won't allow me for some reason to give this one star, but really, with the endlessly universalizing statements, the utter lack of comprehension or respect for Hellenism or indeed any polytheism, and the author's inability to distinguish 'symbol' from 'substance' (the Jews didn't go to war over symbols, i.e. idols. they went to war because Gods are not interchangeable and traditions matter and those "symbols" were representations for Holy Powers and an entire worldview) it doesn't even deserve that.
Good reads won't allow me for some reason to give this one star, but really, with the endlessly universalizing statements, the utter lack of comprehension or respect for Hellenism or indeed any polytheism, and the author's inability to distinguish 'symbol' from 'substance' (the Jews didn't go to war over symbols, i.e. idols. they went to war because Gods are not interchangeable and traditions matter and those "symbols" were representations for Holy Powers and an entire worldview) it doesn't even deserve that.
May 27, 2014
This is a sharp, stimulating, and sweeping look at Jerusalem over 4000 odd years of history, one that gives the city a real narrative while also tying it into seemingly almost every major event in religious or even world history.
Much of the book is focused on battles over the Temple Mount, alternately Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, or Haram al-Sharif, the home of the Temple of Solomon and now the Dome of the Rock. For whatever reason, this hill, large and imposing but not even the tallest hill in the city, has inspired religious awe for millennia. From a Jebusite fortress and shrine to El Elohim, it became the central focus of Judaism when Kings David and then Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant there and built a temple around it. Later, King Herod's rebuilding of the temple during Roman times was supposed to be an act of national assertiveness, bur Roman attempts to move temples to Jupiter and others to the Mount led to riots and eventually the destruction of the temple and the city itself. Later, Muslims associated the Mount both with great events in Jewish history (as Jews had long claimed this was also the site where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac) and Muhammed's "Night Ride" of revelation, and to this end they built the Dome there. During the Crusades, the warrior monastic order, the Knights Templar, established their base there and took their name from the long-destroyed temple. Now the Dome and the Al-Aqsa mosque are a center of Muslim spirituality, and the Western or Wailing Wall, the last remains of Herod's Temple, is the center of Jewish spirituality. The site seems to continue to build up more and more freighted significance as time goes on. This book constantly brings to mind the importance of sacred spaces like the Temple Mount for spirituality, even for those who would deny the importance of such mundane and specific routes to God.
The author's writing is somewhat marred by her occasional editorializing, which becomes more pervasive as the book comes to a close. Trying to classify most of religious teaching over this period as aimed at "social justice" seems a little anachronistic, and at the end her attack on Israeli policies can seem a mite one-sided. Still, the book gives one a sense of a relatively small city that had an outsized impact on human history, perhaps, in fact, more than any other city on Earth.
June 20, 2017
Di dalam buku ini, pembaca akan disajikan sebuah pengalaman mengenai sejarah kota Jerusalem. Data-data historis mengenai kota tersebut disusun dan disajikan secara ringan dan mudah untuk dipahami.
Mulai dari asal mula penamaan kota tersebut beserta sejarahnya jauh sebelum abad Masehi. Berbagai versi sejarah yang ada mengenai kota tersebut juga turut dikemukakan sebagai data pembanding.
Meskipun layak dijadikan sebagai salah satu sumber literatur mengenai sejarah tiga Agama Semit (Islam, Kristen, dan Yahudi) namun pada buku ini tidak diungkapkan secara mendetail akan hal tersebut. Karena memang fokus penyampaiannya lebih menitikberatkan pada sejarah kota Jerusalem. Bagaimana kota tersebut menjadi penting bagi pemeluk tiga agama di atas.
Pada buku ini, Karen Armstrong berusaha mengungkapkan track record pendudukan umat Islam, Kristen, dan Yahudi terhadap kota Jerusalem. Konflik-konflik yang terjadi sepanjang sejarah kota tersebut diungkap secara mendetail termasuk kisah Perang Salib.
Jerusalem, kota yang dianggap suci oleh tiga agama dan telah menjadi sengketa hingga saat ini. Bagi umat Yahudi, kota ini merupakan tempat yang dijanjikan oleh Yahweh ketika mereka melakukan exodus. Inilah kota yang dipilih Tuhan sebagai “tempat kediaman nama-Ku”, tulis kitab Tawarikh.
Bagi umat Kristen, Jerusalem merupakan kota suci. Karena di kota itulah Yesus dianggap hidup, berkarya, meninggal, dan bangkit kembali untuk menebus dosa umat manusia. Dari kota inilah ajaran cinta kasih terhadap sesama umat manusia diajarkan.
Sedangkan bagi umat Islam sendiri, kota ini merupakan kota yang sangat bersejarah. Kota ini merupakan kota suci ketiga setelah Makkah dan Madinah. Di tempat ini Nabi SAW melakukan perjalanan malamnya dari Masjid al-Haram menuju Baitul Maqdis kemudian menuju langit ketujuh.
Pada saat itu pula syariat mengenai shalat ditetapkan. Di sisi lain, Baitul Maqdis merupakan kiblat pertama umat Islam sebelum akhirnya dipindahkan menuju Ka’bah sebagaimana firman Allah SWT di dalam surat al-Baqarah.
Jerusalem, kota yang diratapi, disucikan, dan diperebutkan. Jerusalem, diluluhlantah-kan kemudian dibangun kembali dan sekali lagi dihancurkan di atas air mata dan darah.
Mulai dari asal mula penamaan kota tersebut beserta sejarahnya jauh sebelum abad Masehi. Berbagai versi sejarah yang ada mengenai kota tersebut juga turut dikemukakan sebagai data pembanding.
Meskipun layak dijadikan sebagai salah satu sumber literatur mengenai sejarah tiga Agama Semit (Islam, Kristen, dan Yahudi) namun pada buku ini tidak diungkapkan secara mendetail akan hal tersebut. Karena memang fokus penyampaiannya lebih menitikberatkan pada sejarah kota Jerusalem. Bagaimana kota tersebut menjadi penting bagi pemeluk tiga agama di atas.
Pada buku ini, Karen Armstrong berusaha mengungkapkan track record pendudukan umat Islam, Kristen, dan Yahudi terhadap kota Jerusalem. Konflik-konflik yang terjadi sepanjang sejarah kota tersebut diungkap secara mendetail termasuk kisah Perang Salib.
Jerusalem, kota yang dianggap suci oleh tiga agama dan telah menjadi sengketa hingga saat ini. Bagi umat Yahudi, kota ini merupakan tempat yang dijanjikan oleh Yahweh ketika mereka melakukan exodus. Inilah kota yang dipilih Tuhan sebagai “tempat kediaman nama-Ku”, tulis kitab Tawarikh.
Bagi umat Kristen, Jerusalem merupakan kota suci. Karena di kota itulah Yesus dianggap hidup, berkarya, meninggal, dan bangkit kembali untuk menebus dosa umat manusia. Dari kota inilah ajaran cinta kasih terhadap sesama umat manusia diajarkan.
Sedangkan bagi umat Islam sendiri, kota ini merupakan kota yang sangat bersejarah. Kota ini merupakan kota suci ketiga setelah Makkah dan Madinah. Di tempat ini Nabi SAW melakukan perjalanan malamnya dari Masjid al-Haram menuju Baitul Maqdis kemudian menuju langit ketujuh.
Pada saat itu pula syariat mengenai shalat ditetapkan. Di sisi lain, Baitul Maqdis merupakan kiblat pertama umat Islam sebelum akhirnya dipindahkan menuju Ka’bah sebagaimana firman Allah SWT di dalam surat al-Baqarah.
Jerusalem, kota yang diratapi, disucikan, dan diperebutkan. Jerusalem, diluluhlantah-kan kemudian dibangun kembali dan sekali lagi dihancurkan di atas air mata dan darah.
August 18, 2011
One city. Three faiths. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lay claim to the Holy City. Armstrong’s treatment is impartial as usual, more interested in promoting understanding than any one belief system. She leads us through 4,000 years of history, as this turbulent landmark in the middle of nowhere grew from a tribal village into a cultural and religious phenomenon.
The book of Revelation, about Jerusalem: “The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.” Is this a prophetic inevitability, or is there hope for peace? I’m one of the many with a placard hanging on my wall, requesting that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I read Armstrong’s book as research for my own book about Revelation, because Jerusalem, both the Old and the New, is the focal point of John’s Apocalypse.
Karen’s topic is extremely important for today’s world of religious unease, and it’s an absolutely fascinating topic. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be a bit more dry than usual for Armstrong. I think the book could have been condensed to about 2/3rd its size. But by the time you finish—if you’re able—you’ll have a better grasp of the bitterness and misunderstanding, and why all three religions claim Jerusalem as their own.
The book of Revelation, about Jerusalem: “The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.” Is this a prophetic inevitability, or is there hope for peace? I’m one of the many with a placard hanging on my wall, requesting that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I read Armstrong’s book as research for my own book about Revelation, because Jerusalem, both the Old and the New, is the focal point of John’s Apocalypse.
Karen’s topic is extremely important for today’s world of religious unease, and it’s an absolutely fascinating topic. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be a bit more dry than usual for Armstrong. I think the book could have been condensed to about 2/3rd its size. But by the time you finish—if you’re able—you’ll have a better grasp of the bitterness and misunderstanding, and why all three religions claim Jerusalem as their own.
September 23, 2018
Una historia de más se 3000 años de una ciudad que es aún geografía sagrada de tres religiones y que ha activado constantemente el mito trascendente que va detrás de creencias y emociones que hacen de esta historia una historia sumamente compleja y de tristes ejemplos de cómo los fieles de religiones que predican la compasión y el amor son los principales perpetradores de la violencia y de las intolerancias.
De los peores conquistadores y gobernantes de Jerusalén están los cristianos cruzados y luego muy de cerca el movimiento sionista del actual Israel. Los mejores gobiernos sin duda fueron los del califa Omar y luego Saladino, ambos a musulmanes.
Sobre si Palestina es de por derecho judía... sí, pero de la misma forma que lo es de los palestinos, y de los cristianos y musulmanes... de los cristianos ortodoxos, coptos y de los mamelucos y del otomanos... quizá de los francos y los británicos (aunque ahí sí tengo dudas). En fin, este libro me ha dado un panorama muchísimo más amplio y ha sido muy importante para entender no solo qué pasa en esa ciudad sino en el mundo.
De los peores conquistadores y gobernantes de Jerusalén están los cristianos cruzados y luego muy de cerca el movimiento sionista del actual Israel. Los mejores gobiernos sin duda fueron los del califa Omar y luego Saladino, ambos a musulmanes.
Sobre si Palestina es de por derecho judía... sí, pero de la misma forma que lo es de los palestinos, y de los cristianos y musulmanes... de los cristianos ortodoxos, coptos y de los mamelucos y del otomanos... quizá de los francos y los británicos (aunque ahí sí tengo dudas). En fin, este libro me ha dado un panorama muchísimo más amplio y ha sido muy importante para entender no solo qué pasa en esa ciudad sino en el mundo.
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