Download or read book Jerusalem written by Karen Armstrong and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Venerated for millennia by three faiths, torn by irreconcilable conflict, conquered, rebuilt, and mourned for again and again, Jerusalem is a sacred city whose very sacredness has engendered terrible tragedy. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly praised A History of God, traces the history of how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all laid claim to Jerusalem as their holy place, and how three radically different concepts of holiness have shaped and scarred the city for thousands of years. Armstrong unfolds a complex story of spiritual upheaval and political transformation--from King David's capital to an administrative outpost of the Roman Empire, from the cosmopolitan city sanctified by Christ to the spiritual center conquered and glorified by Muslims, from the gleaming prize of European Crusaders to the bullet-ridden symbol of the present-day Arab-Israeli conflict. Written with grace and clarity, the product of years of meticulous research, Jerusalem combines the pageant of history with the profundity of searching spiritual analysis. Like Karen Armstrong's A History of God, Jerusalem is a book for the ages. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.

Download or read book Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem written by Carol Delaney and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER HE SET SAIL, the dominant understanding of Christopher Columbus holds him responsible for almost everything that went wrong in the New World. Here, finally, is a book that will radically change our interpretation of the man and his mission. Scholar Carol Delaney claims that the true motivation for Columbus’s voyages is very different from what is commonly accepted. She argues that he was inspired to find a western route to the Orient not only to obtain vast sums of gold for the Spanish Crown but primarily to help fund a new crusade to take Jerusalem from the Muslims—a goal that sustained him until the day he died. Rather than an avaricious glory hunter, Delaney reveals Columbus as a man of deep passion, patience, and religious conviction. Delaney sets the stage by describing the tumultuous events that had beset Europe in the years leading up to Columbus’s birth—the failure of multiple crusades to keep Jerusalem in Christian hands; the devastation of the Black Plague; and the schisms in the Church. Then, just two years after his birth, the sacking of Constantinople by the Ottomans barred Christians from the trade route to the East and the pilgrimage route to Jerusalem. Columbus’s belief that he was destined to play a decisive role in the retaking of Jerusalem was the force that drove him to petition the Spanish monarchy to fund his journey, even in the face of ridicule about his idea of sailing west to reach the East. Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem is based on extensive archival research, trips to Spain and Italy to visit important sites in Columbus’s life story, and a close reading of writings from his day. It recounts the drama of the four voyages, bringing the trials of ocean navigation vividly to life and showing Columbus for the master navigator that he was. Delaney offers not an apologist’s take, but a clear-eyed, thought-provoking, and timely reappraisal of the man and his legacy. She depicts him as a thoughtful interpreter of the native cultures that he and his men encountered, and unfolds the tragic story of how his initial attempts to establish good relations with the natives turned badly sour, culminating in his being brought back to Spain as a prisoner in chains. Putting Columbus back into the context of his times, rather than viewing him through the prism of present-day perspectives on colonial conquests, Delaney shows him to have been neither a greedy imperialist nor a quixotic adventurer, as he has lately been depicted, but a man driven by an abiding religious passion.

Download or read book Nine Quarters of Jerusalem written by Matthew Teller and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2022-03-17 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Original and illuminating ... what a good book this is' Jonathan Dimbleby 'A love letter to the people of the Old City' Jerusalem Post In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different things. Maps divide the walled Old City into four quarters, yet that division doesn't reflect the reality of mixed and diverse neighbourhoods. Beyond the crush and frenzy of its major religious sites, much of the Old City remains little known to visitors, its people overlooked and their stories untold. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem lets the communities of the Old City speak for themselves. Ranging through ancient past and political present, it evokes the city's depth and cultural diversity. Matthew Teller's highly original 'biography' features the Old City's Palestinian and Jewish communities, but also spotlights its Indian and African populations, its Greek and Armenian and Syriac cultures, its downtrodden Dom Gypsy families and its Sufi mystics. It discusses the sources of Jerusalem's holiness and the ideas - often startlingly secular - that have shaped lives within its walls. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem is an evocation of place through story, led by the voices of Jerusalemites.

Download or read book A City in Fragments written by Yair Wallach and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mid-nineteenth century, Jerusalem was rich with urban texts inscribed in marble, gold, and cloth, investing holy sites with divine meaning. Ottoman modernization and British colonial rule transformed the city; new texts became a key means to organize society and subjectivity. Stone inscriptions, pilgrims' graffiti, and sacred banners gave way to street markers, shop signs, identity papers, and visiting cards that each sought to define and categorize urban space and people. A City in Fragments tells the modern history of a city overwhelmed by its religious and symbolic significance. Yair Wallach walked the streets of Jerusalem to consider the graffiti, logos, inscriptions, official signs, and ephemera that transformed the city over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As these urban texts became a tool in the service of capitalism, nationalism, and colonialism, the affinities of Arabic and Hebrew were forgotten and these sister-languages found themselves locked in a bitter war. Looking at the writing of—and literally on—Jerusalem, Wallach offers a creative and expansive history of the city, a fresh take on modern urban texts, and a new reading of the Israel/Palestine conflict through its material culture.

Download or read book Jerusalem Jerusalem written by James Carroll and published by HMH. This book was released on 2011-03-09 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “masterful” history of the city and its holy wars past and present, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Constantine’s Sword (The Boston Globe). How did this ancient Middle Eastern city become a transcendent fantasy that ignites religious fervor unlike anywhere else on earth? Jerusalem, Jerusalem journeys through centuries of conflict among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, right up to the present-day Israeli-Palestinian struggle—with fascinating examinations of how the idea of the holy city has shaped not just the region’s history but the world’s.

Download or read book Under Jerusalem written by Andrew Lawler and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A spellbinding history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval “A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian’s penchant for detail and a journalist’s flair for narration.” —Washington Post In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.

Download or read book Mythologies Without End written by Jerome Slater and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Mythologies Without End, Jerome Slater takes stock of the conflict over time and argues that US policies in the region are largely a product of mythologies that are often flatly wrong. Because of their widespread acceptance, there have been devastating consequences to the true interests of both countries. He argues that a critical examination and refutation of the many mythologies is a necessary first step toward solving the Arab-Israeliconflict.

Download or read book Jerusalem written by Alan Moore and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 1954 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal Winner of the Audie Award The New York Times bestseller from the author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta finally appears in a one-volume paperback. Begging comparisons to Tolstoy and Joyce, this “magnificent, sprawling cosmic epic” (Guardian) by Alan Moore—the genre-defying, “groundbreaking, hairy genius of our generation” (NPR)—takes its place among the most notable works of contemporary English literature. In decaying Northampton, eternity loiters between housing projects. Among saints, kings, prostitutes, and derelicts, a timeline unravels: second-century fiends wait in urine-scented stairwells, delinquent specters undermine a century with tunnels, and in upstairs parlors, laborers with golden blood reduce fate to a snooker tournament. Through the labyrinthine streets and pages of Jerusalem tread ghosts singing hymns of wealth and poverty. They celebrate the English language, challenge mortality post-Einstein, and insist upon their slum as Blake’s eternal holy city in “Moore’s apotheosis, a fourth-dimensional symphony” (Entertainment Weekly). This “brilliant . . . monumentally ambitious” tale from the gutter is “a massive literary achievement for our time—and maybe for all times simultaneously” (Washington Post).

Download or read book Jerusalem written by Simon Sebag Montefiore and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 881 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The epic history of three thousand years of faith, fanaticism, bloodshed, and coexistence, from King David to the 21st century, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, from the bestselling author of The Romanovs • "Impossible to put down…. Vastly enjoyable." —The New York Times Book Review How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the “center of the world” and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs, and revelations of the men and women who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. As well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who have left their mark on the city, its cast varies from Solomon, Saladin and Suleiman the Magnificent to Cleopatra, Caligula and Churchill; from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad; from the ancient world of Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero to the modern times of the Kaiser, Disraeli, Mark Twain, Lincoln, Rasputin, Lawrence of Arabia and Moshe Dayan. In this masterful narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore brings the holy city to life and draws on the latest scholarship, his own family history, and a lifetime of study to show that the story of Jerusalem is truly the story of the world.

Download or read book Eichmann in Jerusalem written by Hannah Arendt and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-09-22 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversial journalistic analysis of the mentality that fostered the Holocaust, from the author of The Origins of Totalitarianism Sparking a flurry of heated debate, Hannah Arendt’s authoritative and stunning report on the trial of German Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in The New Yorker in 1963. This revised edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt’s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. A major journalistic triumph by an intellectual of singular influence, Eichmann in Jerusalem is as shocking as it is informative—an unflinching look at one of the most unsettling (and unsettled) issues of the twentieth century.

Download or read book The Late Great Planet Earth written by Hal Lindsey and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The impact of The Late Great Planet Earth cannot be overstated. The New York Times called it the "no. 1 non-fiction bestseller of the decade." For Christians and non-Christians of the 1970s, Hal Lindsey's blockbuster served as a wake-up call on events soon to come and events already unfolding -- all leading up to the greatest event of all: the return of Jesus Christ. The years since have confirmed Lindsey's insights into what biblical prophecy says about the times we live in. Whether you're a church-going believer or someone who wouldn't darken the door of a Christian institution, the Bible has much to tell you about the imminent future of this planet. In the midst of an out-of-control generation, it reveals a grand design that's unfolding exactly according to plan. The rebirth of Israel. The threat of war in the Middle East. An increase in natural catastrophes. The revival of Satanism and witchcraft. These and other signs, foreseen by prophets from Moses to Jesus, portend the coming of an antichrist . . . of a war which will bring humanity to the brink of destruction . . . and of incredible deliverance for a desperate, dying planet.

Download or read book Faithful Witness written by Michel Sabbah and published by New City Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each chapter of Faithful Witness, a collection of Michel Sabbah’s essential writings, contains a theme developed during his twenty-year tenure as Patriarch of Jerusalem. Beginning with “Reading the Bible in the Land of the Bible,” Faithful Witness proceeds from God’s Grace and the Nativity to Lent and Jesus’ Resurrection. In between, Patriarch Sabbah addresses other important topics, including the role of the Church in the Holy Land, Jerusalem, ecumenism, Christian-Muslim dialogue and Palestinian-Israeli relations. “For anyone who wants to understand the complex status quo of the Holy Land today, this careful and thoughtful selection from the work and teaching of Patriarch Sabbah is a useful and most insightful guide. The first Palestinian to be called to the dignity and the challenging ministry of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, this brilliant and courageous religious leader has been for 20 years a father to his community and a test to his adversaries. As you read his words … you see a man … who never gives up hope that the power of God will ultimately bring a new day of harmony to this land where the ancient prophets lived and died and where the children of Abraham—Jewish, Christian and Muslim—must find a way to live in peace together.” Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Ph.D., D.D. Archbishop Emeritus of Washington Patriarch Sabbah’s inclusive vision embraces all peoples, including Palestinians and Israelis. He courageously extends himself to open dialogue with leaders who do not share his vision of “peace with justice.” His friendship and conversations with Palestinian and Israeli leaders do not diminish his objectivity, search for dialogue and truth and calls for peacemaking, peace building and reconciliation.

Download or read book Understanding the Spiritual Meaning of Jerusalem in Three Abrahamic Religions written by Antti Laato and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-08-05 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding the Spiritual Meaning of Jerusalem in Three Abrahamic Religions analyzes the historical, social and theological factors which have resulted in Jerusalem being considered a holy place in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also surveys the transmission of the religious traditions related to Jerusalem. This volume centralizes both the biblical background of Jerusalem’s pivotal role as holy place and its later development in religious writings; the biblical imagery has been adapted, rewritten and modified in Second Temple Jewish writings, the New Testament, patristic and Jewish literature, and Islamic traditions. Thus, all three monotheistic religions have influenced the multifaceted, interpretive traditions which help to understand the current religious and political position of Jerusalem in the three main Abrahamic faiths.

Download or read book In Jerusalem written by Lis Harris and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An entirely fresh take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that examines the life-shaping reverberations of wars and ongoing tensions upon the everyday lives of families in Jerusalem. An American, secular, diasporic Jew, Lis Harris grew up with the knowledge of the historical wrongs done to Jews. In adulthood, she developed a growing awareness of the wrongs they in turn had done to the Palestinian people. This gave her an intense desire to understand how the Israelis’ history led them to where they are now. However, she found that top-down political accounts and insider assessments made the people most affected seem like chess pieces. What she wanted was to register the effects of the country’s seemingly never-ending conflict on the lives of successive generations. Shuttling back and forth over ten years between East and West Jerusalem, Harris learned about the lives of two families: the Israeli Pinczowers/Ezrahis and the Palestinian Abuleils. She came to know members of each family—young and old, religious and secular, male and female. As they shared their histories with her, she looked at how each family survived the losses and dislocations that defined their lives; how, in a region where war and its threat were part of the very air they breathed, they gave children hope for their future; and how the adults’ understanding of the conflict evolved over time. Combining a decade of historical research with political analysis, Harris creates a living portrait of one of the most complicated and controversial conflicts of our time.

Download or read book What Jerusalem Means to Us written by Yael Aronoff and published by . This book was released on 2023-03-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jerusalem is a distinctive city for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and their adherents. It is equally special for millions of Jews and Arabs worldwide, for Israelis and Palestinians, who revere it and regard it as a precious inheritance from their ancestors, spiritual or physical or both. For the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, the main subject of this volume, Jerusalem stands as the heart of Judaism and Jewish consciousness. Additionally, Jerusalem has ideological and political significance to Jewish Israelis and to Jews worldwide. A symbol of self-determination and national independence, its possession and safety are paramount. This is anchored in the Zionist vision and program to establish for the Jewish people "a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine," especially in Zion or Jerusalem, as was decided at the First Zionist Congress, which met in Basel, Switzerland, in August 1897 and as was expressed in the Balfour Declaration in November 1917. The vision became a reality in May 1948, when the Zionist movement declared the creation of the Jewish state, Israel. It also accounts for Israel's policies and actions, mainly its constant efforts to Judaize Jerusalem and ensure Jewish dominant presence there.What Jerusalem Means to Us: Jewish Perspectives and Reflections addresses the intimate and unique connections among Jews, Judaism, and Jerusalem along a variety of dimensions - religious, spiritual, historical, cultural, political, psychological, and social. These are manifested through the perspectives and reflections of sixteen Jewish leaders representing different backgrounds. The resultant essays present a rich array of personal and professional transformations, extraordinary love and hope for Jerusalem, as well as an honest appraisal of some of the challenges of daily living. What follows provides glimpses or insights from each author's contribution.

Download or read book City of a Thousand Gates written by Bee Sacks and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE JANET HEIGINGER KAFKA PRIZE FOR FICTION “The novel showcases the humanity, tragedy, and complexity of life in the West Bank. . . . The characters’ interwoven lives will stay with you long after the book's denouement.” —Entertainment Weekly “Sacks is an extraordinarily gifted writer whose intelligence, compassion and skill on both the sentence and tension level rise to meet her ambition. She keeps us constantly on edge. . . . City of a Thousand Gates makes a convincing case for a literature of multiplicity, polyphonic and clamorous, abuzz with challenges and contradictions, with no clear answers but a promise to stay alert to the world, in all its peril and vitality.” —Washington Post Brave and bold, this gorgeously written novel introduces a large cast of characters from various backgrounds in a setting where violence is routine and where survival is defined by boundaries, walls, and checkpoints that force people to live and love within and across them. Hamid, a college student, has entered Israeli territory illegally for work. Rushing past soldiers, he bumps into Vera, a German journalist headed to Jerusalem to cover the story of Salem, a Palestinian boy beaten into a coma by a group of revenge-seeking Israeli teenagers. On her way to the hospital, Vera runs in front of a car that barely avoids hitting her. The driver is Ido, a new father traveling with his American wife and their baby. Ido is distracted by thoughts of a young Jewish girl murdered by a terrorist who infiltrated her settlement. Ori, a nineteen-year-old soldier from a nearby settlement, is guarding the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem through which Samar—Hamid’s professor—must pass. These multiple strands open this magnificent and haunting novel of present-day Israel and Palestine, following each of these diverse characters as they try to protect what they love. Their interwoven stories reveal complicated, painful truths about life in this conflicted land steeped in hope, love, hatred, terror, and blood on both sides. City of a Thousand Gates brilliantly evokes the universal drives that motivate these individuals to think and act as they do—desires for security, for freedom, for dignity, for the future of one’s children, for land that each of us, no matter who or where we are, recognize and share.

Download or read book What Jerusalem Means to US written by Saliba G Sarsar and published by . This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of 12 essays where Muslims share their personal perspectives and reflections on Jerusalem.