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Divine Expectations: An American Woman In Nineteenth-Century Palestine
Barbara Kreiger’s intriguing narrative presents the account of Clorinda Minor, a charismatic American Christian woman whose belief in the Second Coming prompted her to leave a comfortable life in Philadelphia in 1851 and take up agriculture in Palestine.
After her disappointment in a failed prophecy that the End of Days would take place in October 1844, Mrs. Minor determined that the Holy Land was not yet adequately prepared for such an event and decided that it would be her mission to teach the poverty-stricken Jews of Palestine to work the soil. In this very American story, Mrs. Minor, like so many other pioneers of her day, looked to the land as her future.
Even as her mission was distinctly religious, her daily efforts were in the social realm. And although her work brought Jews and Arabs together, and her small farm was a unique settlement where Christians, Muslims, and Jews labored alongside one another, the events detailed in Divine Expectations had dramatic and tragic diplomatic and international repercussions.
With the deft touch of a novelist, Barbara Kreiger weaves the little-known story of Clorinda Minor into the larger context of the region and its history, presenting it in its charming eccentricity and its gripping reality.
After her disappointment in a failed prophecy that the End of Days would take place in October 1844, Mrs. Minor determined that the Holy Land was not yet adequately prepared for such an event and decided that it would be her mission to teach the poverty-stricken Jews of Palestine to work the soil. In this very American story, Mrs. Minor, like so many other pioneers of her day, looked to the land as her future.
Even as her mission was distinctly religious, her daily efforts were in the social realm. And although her work brought Jews and Arabs together, and her small farm was a unique settlement where Christians, Muslims, and Jews labored alongside one another, the events detailed in Divine Expectations had dramatic and tragic diplomatic and international repercussions.
With the deft touch of a novelist, Barbara Kreiger weaves the little-known story of Clorinda Minor into the larger context of the region and its history, presenting it in its charming eccentricity and its gripping reality.
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 1999
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January 16, 2017
Occasionally I read a not-recently-published book that moves me so that I wonder how I missed it when it first appeared. Divine Expectations is one such book. Interest in the Mid-East has only increased since it was published fifteen years ago. Although now the US war against ISIS has overshadowed language of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, the themes of religious differences and American interests in them continue to loom large.
Add to these contemporary interests the fascinating story Barbara Kreiger tells of American Clorinda Strong Minor (1809-55), who spent the last five years of her short life in Palestine. Devoted to a utopian vision of agricultural improvements and spiritual development, Clorinda Minor traveled as a married female without her husband, wrestling not only with cultures and languages new to her but also new technologies. A neophyte to rural farm life, she believed in a future heaven on earth—an ushering in of Christ’s kingdom--in the crescent of the world that has interested Americans and Europeans for centuries. The role of the Jews there, she believed, was essential to the divine kingdom that had been prophesied.
For those who know nothing of Americans in Palestine in the nineteenth century, the expedition in which Minor was involved opens up views of global relations that go beyond typical evangelistic missions and economic imperatives. By zooming in on specific individuals, such as Minor and John Meshullam, a convert from Judaism to Christianity who was dedicated to farming although also a hotel proprietor and successful businessman, Kreiger brings to life the realities of loneliness and personal hungers, including desires to achieve that drive actions and often contribute to conflicts in utopian efforts and communities.
Firmly grounded in research and well-documented, Divine Expectations is presented with clear prose, and approximately a dozen illustrations from nineteenth-century publications recreate what Americans then were envisioning as they read about the Holy Land. Kreiger gives readers a story whose narrative arc demonstrates the dreams, struggles, triumphs and failures--large and small--of an American woman whose personal journey included engaging those around her in a vision of social improvement.
I loved this book so much that I bought it for my mother-in-law! Her interest in travel, history and religion suggests Kreiger's work will engage her as much as it did me.
Add to these contemporary interests the fascinating story Barbara Kreiger tells of American Clorinda Strong Minor (1809-55), who spent the last five years of her short life in Palestine. Devoted to a utopian vision of agricultural improvements and spiritual development, Clorinda Minor traveled as a married female without her husband, wrestling not only with cultures and languages new to her but also new technologies. A neophyte to rural farm life, she believed in a future heaven on earth—an ushering in of Christ’s kingdom--in the crescent of the world that has interested Americans and Europeans for centuries. The role of the Jews there, she believed, was essential to the divine kingdom that had been prophesied.
For those who know nothing of Americans in Palestine in the nineteenth century, the expedition in which Minor was involved opens up views of global relations that go beyond typical evangelistic missions and economic imperatives. By zooming in on specific individuals, such as Minor and John Meshullam, a convert from Judaism to Christianity who was dedicated to farming although also a hotel proprietor and successful businessman, Kreiger brings to life the realities of loneliness and personal hungers, including desires to achieve that drive actions and often contribute to conflicts in utopian efforts and communities.
Firmly grounded in research and well-documented, Divine Expectations is presented with clear prose, and approximately a dozen illustrations from nineteenth-century publications recreate what Americans then were envisioning as they read about the Holy Land. Kreiger gives readers a story whose narrative arc demonstrates the dreams, struggles, triumphs and failures--large and small--of an American woman whose personal journey included engaging those around her in a vision of social improvement.
I loved this book so much that I bought it for my mother-in-law! Her interest in travel, history and religion suggests Kreiger's work will engage her as much as it did me.
Displaying 1 of 1 review