“Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths” by Karen Armstrong
Once upon a time Jerusalem was nothing more than a piece of land in the middle of nowhere. Originated since around 3000 BC, the city was largely forgotten in its early days in between the more powerful and prosperous neighbouring empires.
As the author, Karen Armstrong, remarks, “Ironically, the city which would be revered as the center of the world by millions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims was off the beaten track of ancient Canaan.” And so what happened between its obscure beginning and what it becomes today?
This impressive book tells the immense 5000 years history about the origins of Jerusalem. It is a story about the city, the people who inhabit it, the politics, the many conflicts and misunderstandings, the cosmic battles, and the atrocities committed in its name, that left some traces in the battle scars of the city today.
It is the story over the various different rulers of Jerusalem and how it fares under their respective control: From the Canaanites, to Judahites, Persians, Greeks, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, British, to Israelis, not to mention various Christian and Muslim nations who have their religious interests in the city. And it shows, perhaps above all else, how the city can rise and fall and rise again, destroyed and rebuilt, and simply refused to disappear into obscurity.
The book is also the story about how for centuries Jews, Christians, and Muslims were able to live harmoniously together in the city. It is, as Armstrong remarks, “an attempt to find out what Jews, Christians, and Muslims have meant when they have said that the city is “holy” to them and to point out some of the implications of Jerusalem’s sanctity in each tradition. This seems just as important as deciding who was in the city first and who, therefore, should own it, especially since the origins of Jerusalem are shrouded in such obscurity.”
So, did Armstrong eventually reveal who is the rightful owner of Jerusalem? Not quite, not that simple. But she does illustrate how it becomes a holy city; how various different sects, religions, and races get to claim their spot in it; and how their complex dynamisms with each other have created the environment like no other cities in the world. And perhaps most relevantly for today’s geopolitics, the book shows that the current Israel-Palestine conflict actually had a beginning, and it was not a religious conflict but a political one.
All in all, it is a slow burn book, with intricate details filled every page of the stories. It is never meant to be a light book about a city, and instead it is truly a complex book about the history of humanity. I expect nothing less from a Karen Armstrong book.
THE CHAOS THEORY 