“None have claim... All have claim!” (Scott). So proclaims Balian of Ibelin in the 2005 movie, Kingdom of Heaven, when an argument breaks out over who deserves the city of Jerusalem. The city itself, viewed without any spiritual connotations, is rather unremarkable. Yet more blood has been spilled over this ancient place, by people whose beliefs are so intricately intertwined, than anywhere on earth. It, to this day, fuels conflicts that are millenia old, and perhaps the best explanation again comes from Mr. Scott. “What is Jerusalem? Your holy places lie over the Jewish temple that the Romans pulled down. The Muslim places of worship lie over yours. Which is more holy?” (Scott). Although historical errors or dramatizations might abound in the movie, in this one moment of piercing insight the nail is hit firmly on the head by a simple fact; Jerusalem does not truly belong to anyone, nor does it truly mean anything. However, the meaning that human beings attach to the city itself, its monuments and how these permeate down into the earth itself make the city more valuable than anything tangible.
To the pre-diasporic Jews, Jerusalem had more reasons of importance than there are stars in the sky. No single place is more important to Judaism than Jerusalem; the city encompasses all that there is to be both a Jew and a member of that nation. To the Jews, Jerusalem is the land promised to them by God (Genesis 12:1-9). Many talmudic scholars also believe that the spiritual center of the city, the Temple Mount, is also Mount Moriah, which is where Abraham sacrificed Isaac to God and the Covenant between God and Abraham began (Hoppe, p.6). The temple mount is also, of course, where Solomon built his Temple to God, and where Herod rebuil...
... middle of paper ...
... by cementing itself in the Jewish holy city and creating Christian monuments like The Church of the Holy Sepulchre over locations like the Temple of Aphrodite that was built by the Romans. Attempts like this made the young Christianity both new, yet still with deep spiritual “roots” in the city. Thus, to the Christians, physical control of Jerusalem was inextricably tied to ideological control of the city. Being the ruling force in the city was as much a legitimization of Christian beliefs and the “successive” nature of Christianity to Judaism as it was about possessing the sites that are so holy to the Christian religion itself.
References:
Scott, Riddley, dir. Kingdom of Heaven. 20th Century Fox, 2005. Film.
The bible
Leslie J. Hoppe. The Holy City:Jerusalem in the theology of the Old Testament, Liturgical Press, 2000, p. 6.
Jerusalem or Zion, is where the church of Jesus Christ got their stard. But in apostolic time a different city came to overshadow Jerusalem in some respects. The city of Antioch, capital of the Roman province of Syria.
René de Chateaubriand, François. The Beauties of Christianity. The Hebrew Bible In Literary Criticism. Ed. and Comp. Alex Preminger and Edward L. Greenstein. New York: Ungar, 1986. 445.
Main Events in the history of Jerusalem. (n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2011, from Century One Educational Bookstore: http://www.centuryone.com/hstjrslm.html
The conquest to pursue war against Sejul Turks, who were Sunni Muslims, began when Crusaders realized the Jerusalem had not been under Christian control in 461 years. This was shocking because Christianity has spread throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East in Late Antiquity. After Muslims captured Jerusalem in 1076, any Christian who wanted to pay a visit to the city of Jerusalem faced many obstacles because Muslim soldiers made it very dangerous for them to do so. Jerusalem is very important to Christians because it has lots of biblical references. In Europe the Pope along with the Papacy has assumed the power of utili...
In 1095, Jerusalem was a flourishing city that was the main powerhouse for three religions; all three religions wanted complete control over the holy land. These three religions were Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and all three religions were known to use Jerusalem as a place of religious reasons. But in turn, the best part about Jerusalem was the political power it held. Pope Urban’s demand for power and Jewish Israel’s desire to control Palestinians are the factors in the political conflict over the holy land.
During The First Crusade peasants and knights alike fought for God and glory travelling east towards Jerusalem. In 1099 Christian forces reached Jerusalem and prepared for recapture. The western crusaders attacked the city and gained control of it. During the capture of Jerusalem, the crusading forces massacred not only Muslims, but Jews and even other Christians. Men women and children alike, no one was safe from these crusaders who did what they wanted. They butchered Jerusalem’s inhabitants in the streets, without care of what God might think (which is ironic considering this w...
Monuments such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and San Vitale in Ravenna, perform a great importance in Byzantine and Islamic architecture. Both of these structures did not exclusively represent the main place of worship, but most importantly as a symbol of achievement and growth within the current times of construction. Starting in 524, under the influence of Orthodox bishop Ecclesius, the development of San Vitale was to represent the achievements of the emperor Justinian. Julius Argentarius was the sponsor for this structure and it was dedicated by Bishop Maximian in 547. The Dome of the Rock is built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in 692 with the help of Abd al-Malik with the suspected intention to symbolize Islams influence in Jerusalem and its involvement in a highly Jewish and Christian supremacy. Although separated by over 100 yrs, both of these domes share multiple similarity's including a projected confidence of their originating culture.
If one accepts that the crusading movement transcends the conquest of the Holy Land, then there is no reason its history should abruptly end i...
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
One of the Crusades main purposes was to recapture the city of Jerusalem, their Holy Land. The city of Jerusalem was important to both Christianity and Islam because it was the city that represented the center of their respective religion. Also, during the fourth century the city of Jerusalem was drawn on most maps as the center of the world. “Jews treasured it (Jerusalem) as Zion, God’s own city, and as the place where King Solomon had built his great temple. Muslims associated it with the prophets who had preceded their founder Muhammad and considered it their third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina (“The Divine Campaigns” 57). “It was a meeting place for those who had been scattered, the goal of the great pilgrimage or Crusade, where God resides among his people” (Mayer 136). The Christian attacks against the Muslims in the city of Jerusalem were to no avail as they simply lacked the manpower to capture the city. The Crusades from the Muslim perspective, “ultimately helped the Islamic leaders to impose unity and religious orthodoxy in a divided region” (“The Divine Campaigns” 59). Overall the Christians were unable to complete the main goal of their great pilg...
They had structure and a set guideline of who would rule and keep their people in order. This kept the nation from being chaotic and having no design, thus resulting in a purpose for God to watch so closely over them. The “Holy City” is what Israel is consistently referred to
Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.
Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. (BS195 .C66 1995)
Green, Joseph A. The OXFORD GUIDE to PEOPLE & PLACES of the BIBLE. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and
Lea, Thomas D., and David Alan Black. The New Testament Its Background and message. 2nd edition. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003.