Readings week five

I wanted to start off by talking about the presentation and how much I did not understand or even realize about Jerusalem and the situation. For some reason I just did not know that people were literally being taken out of their own houses and pushed onto the streets. That was really my moment of oh man this is what is happening today and why people are fighting to extremes now. I was sort of stuck in the past and caught up in all the history of Jerusalem and that film made me realize like its 2010 and there is still destruction and its not just reading from a history book about way back when. I think that the exhibit will be extremely interesting and am going to go. On another note as I traveled to Washington D.C. this past weekend I was unable to go to the Palestinian center there but there was randomly when I was walking I saw the people from the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge, and seeing the world Israel stopped to listen. Well it ended up being an extreme group and was interesting to listen to their very opinionated views but were more focused on the flaws of other religions than whatever the message they were trying to portray which I was unable to exactly understand from what I watched.

Getting into the end of Armstrong book, I found it almost amusing when it was pointed out how Christianity and the other religions in getting the main idea of things had failed in Jerusalem at portraying the “charity and loving kindness” of the faith. I also like how Armstrong used the term “biblical archaeology” I believe that is the best way to put trying to use religion off of fact based places and buildings when religion is mostly compromised of faith for people in general. To see how people who are unfamiliar with the area try to come in and want to allow three faiths to live in peace seems like wishful thinking but if people were just more willing to listen to others, or understanding then maybe it could be possible. To read how the city was transformed from an Arab city to a mostly Jewish city was also interesting. It seems that no matter what people are going to fight for the area of the city but things have just gotten out of hand. To read of groups and extreme measures that are taken just distort the image of Palestinians and propaganda is created to fuel the fight between the two sides. In the book when they mentioned Hamas the group I had previously come across that group in a children and war class and seen some of their training videos online and the atrocities that they encouraged were horrible. I liked Armstrong’s quote “One of the inescapable messages of the history of Jerusalem is that, despite the romantic myths to the contrary, suffering does not necessarily make us better, nobler people. All too the often, quite the reverse.”

response 5

It is extremely interesting to read about how Christians started to first take on wanting to know and go through the experience and travels of Jesus and how people started to develop a yearning for wanting to touch the things he did and go the places he did. Christianity seemed to have made a complete 360 in regards to their thoughts and views on “sacred geography” and feeling closer to God. If the two monotheistic religions had anything in common now it was Jerusalem and a dislike for the other to rule over them. To read of all the continued destruction still being a recurring theme is saddening and makes me think how there will ever be some kind of peace resolved today if the history they are continuously looking back on is full of such destruction. I like how chapters go into great detail the history is Islam, a lot of it was familiar to me since I took a class on the history of the Middle East last quarter a lot of the information was fresh in my head. When Armstrong brought up the issue of construction being a way for the three faiths to have a hold on the other and with their buildings and architecture was very different then what was seen in previous chapters since now the focus shifted to people out building each other but during the same time period.

Why did the Karaites build a cheese factory of all the things to build on the mount of olives? I did not realize that Jerusalem was so prone to such devastating earth quakes also. To hear how in history people justified battle through religion is just an idea that I am unable to grasp, and yet it continues to this day. To read about the crusades is always upsetting and just crazy to think of all the people that lost their lives. It seems odd how after the crusaders had killed nearly all the people of Jerusalem that they had no idea of really what to do with the city. It is a shame to read how when other communities and people were thriving intellectually Jerusalem was sort of left in the dust and more focused on military and architectural survival.To see Jerusalem go from a place where people could live, not necessarily peacefully but at least with out killing each other to complete destruction and death seems that people are just able to ruin beautiful things to easily.

Response 4

I wanted to start off by talking about when the tomb of Jesus was found under the pagan temple. Okay, I found it amusing by how awe inspiring and sort of a religious revival had happened before Christianity had even been around for a long time occurred when the tomb was found. I like how Armstrong wrote of how even though the Christians did not accept the idea that they needed some physical sight on earth how even to find such a thing and related them to primal myths of going back to human origin. I also like how the chapters focused on how Jews and Christians were able to sort of realize wholly that their faith and worship can be from anywhere and not just Jerusalem. Even after the city had been completely changed it was astounding to me for people to still hold it at such a holy place in their hearts and to their religion, and am starting to see the importance of the city to the people. I never knew anything about Jerusalem and was shocked to read how many times it was destroyed and created, and I had no idea that the Jews were completely exiled and banned from practicing in Jerusalem for some time. I could not imagine how painful it would be to see the city they loved so dearly completely destroyed and turned into a modern Greek or Roman area. I sort of feel like Christianity being so closely related and not necessarily accepted, but was able to b integrated into the political and economic system to quickly was astounding. At times I thought the book was a little or very so much complex and confusing with all the historical content. It is somewhat hard for me to understand also such a close tie with the land. For me living in America I feel that we do not as a society have such associations with land and a sense of identity of who we are since there is not one place I hold dear, or can think of that as a group is seen as an admirable land or holy area for us here. Taking on this new perspective of Jerusalem is giving me a better understanding of how things have come to where they are today, even though I only know such a small amount, my understanding is better than where it was a few weeks ago but I still have so much more to learn.

Response 3

I wanted to first start off saying that I was glad that I attended the film and now have a new appreciation for how the arts are able to bring people together. I did not realize how serious of a situation the people were facing and were so naive to the others cultures or visa versa. It was astounding to see how the groups despite their differences were able to come together and all share a great appreciation for music and find a common ground of understanding on a personable level.

I am glad that the book gave some type of meaning to the word Sukkoth since I kept forgetting to look up what it was all about. From what I have read so far I am starting to get a better understanding as to why the people held Jerusalem as such a holy place. Since they were exiled it seems that since Jerusalem was destroyed the people still looked and prayed to that direction making it important to them not only geographically but also spiritually. It is interesting to see how the Israelites went about learning to praise or worship within and see how their religion started to take form. I liked how when writing Armstrong also made note to mention other happenings in the world for example mentioning Siddhartha Gautama. I really liked this because it shows how other parts of the world were doing at a time when the exiled were starting to figure out what constituted as holy and how to approach certain areas of their religion. How it was acknowledged that from even extremely early on the walls or fortifying the city was “a bid for political control and preeminence.” Having such harsh exclusionary rules from early on also seems to set how people would try to make claims to the land in present time trying to prove how it was rightfully theirs through archeological studies and finds. I liked also how the book compared the Greek Hellenistic Era to that of people admiring western culture today and think that it is interesting how Armstrong is able to make such clear and relatable comparisons. To make note of the first religious persecution in history seemed like a bold statement but never the less it did change many people’s perspectives of their religion. To read and understand more completely how the Jewish faith was established going over the smallest incidences and how certain holidays came about makes me want to understand and learn more about my own religions history. I was raised catholic but have come to realize that I know much less than I thought about the religion and this class has sort of sparked a new interest on a scholarly level for me to learn about the religion. It is interesting to read how the different religions of the land start to come together and live interspersed. To see the different groups and rulers come through and to see why Jerusalem is so important of a city to the people is starting to become more clear now that part of its history has been explained.

Response week 2

Alright, after reading the beginning of Karen Armstrong's book at first I was a little over whelmed with all of the history dating back oh so far. It was interesting to see certain stories for example the story of Abraham as such an integral part of history for the Israelis. Growing up catholic this was often a story that would be brought up but it is always such a different perspective depending on who is narrating. I also like how the first chapter sort of just talks about how religion came to be of such importance to people and societies and the quote from the book "There is an innate conviction that life was not meant to be like this; we hanker for what might have been, mourn the transitory nature of earthly existence, and feel outraged by death. We are haunted by a sense of more perfect relationships and imagine a world of harmony and wholeness, where we would feel completely in tune with our surroundings, instead of having to battle against them." I also found it interesting how Armstrong stated a recurring theme that stays with Jerusalem throughout its history has been the new creation of a society depended on the destruction of others. Out of all the places David could have picked as his capitol I also find it interesting he wanted to capture and make Jerusalem it. By picking such a neutral place as a not associated with Judah or Israel it seems from even extremely on Jerusalem was always territory just in the middle.

The importance of the placement and type of buildings that were being created in early Jerusalem seemed to take much planning and intricate placement was very emphasized so as not to offend others in the beginning. It seems that from early on though Jerusalem had much importance to the people who encountered its grounds and the closeness Jerusalem placed on Yahweh left many people to take drastic measures to what they considered rightly theirs. The creation and destruction of temples seems to show how people were constantly coming into Jerusalem and each trying to create their own kind of home or representation of what their Jerusalem was.

Readings assignment two

After reading the brief article about the history of Jerusalem by Mick Dumper it sounded like there was deep seeded political and social problems that Jerusalem has to deal with and has left many issues regarding the treatment of the Palestinians go on for quite a while, almost as if they are ignored they will eventually disperse. I see the valid points of how the peoples' historical context leaves each of the three monotheistic religions feeling as if they have the closest and most justifiable rights to the land. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the historical aspect that relates to issues today regarding who should rightfully be there and maybe there is some mistakes in continually looking to the past in order to make advances in the future when dealing with conflict and the different groups.

The article about Jerusalem from an Arab perspective was also very focused on the history and who did what, or what great buildings and architectural impressions were left on the city to this day. It seemed pretty straight forward and I think just wanted to state more of how in the very beginning of records it is recognized as being arabized and what kind of importance Jerusalem was to Muslim rulers throughout its history of being. Throughout the article it was hard for me to try and find some tone or attitude it was just these are the facts sort of thing. In the end of the article there was mention of how the city could be divided into two permanently so each conflicting country could have their part of Jerusalem. I found it very interesting that Jerusalem internationally is recognized as indefinitely relating to Palestine and Israel.

It was interesting to me how the third article tried to portray the city as coming together in the end and almost as if everything ended up working out alright for everyone. I also found that it is interesting how in all of the articles it mentions at least once about who built what walls and when they were made and how some are even up today. I never realized how much the walls and buildings meant to the people today looking back on the history of the city. Each of the articles were able to point out though how Jerusalem has great significance to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and I think that this is a very important aspect since people can at least recognize how important the city is to all three religions.

Weblog journal assignment dos

Don't be content with a subsequently less than average life