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.