In beginning Karen Armstrong's book Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths I was expecting rather dry, historically-focused writing that would be difficult to read. However, I was extremely taken aback by her introduction and viewpoints shared only within the first fifteen or so pages. This prompted me to look her up on the internet because it became obvious that she had had quite extensive religious education, and I was totally shocked to find out that she is a former Catholic nun. I actually went to a Catholic high school, so I found it odd to imagine one of the sisters who taught there to write scholarly books relating to Islam and Judaism, such as Karen Armstrong has. I find it quite amazing that she has taken such a non-biased approach (at least in what I have read of the novel so far) in researching and analyzing Jerusalem's ancient and near history, as well as the undeniable forces of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity in shaping what the city has become today.
Armstrong's introduction brought up a very good point about the importance, or rather lack thereof, of who arrived in Jerusalem first. I have noticed that even in discussions with my friends about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this question of who were the first inhabitants is always brought up as sort of solution for who should have political and geographical rights over Jerusalem. Sometimes I even find myself getting sucked into this historical conversation of ancient Israelites and Arabs pre-WWII, however Armstrong reiterated a great point: this question is of little importance, and furthermore, it will not help in resolving the conflict. All sides are going to have to accept putting the past out of their minds and focusing upon the present if the conflict is ever to be resolved.
I found Armstrong's discussion on the importance of myths and legends to be something that I often discredit in terms of the validity or reliability of a source, but her take on it was quite eye-opening. She says that myths relating to "sacred geography," or the geographical places which form a part of a people's or culture's identity, "express truths about the interior life," and that even if they themselves are not entirely factual in nature, there are elements of emotional truth within them. Furthermore, she argues that for these reasons, myths are important exactly because they are myths.
While reading Chapter 1-4, I kept her viewpoints of myths and sacred geography in mind, because personally, I too easily discredit stories from the Bible because of the fact that they are myth-like in nature and couldn't possibly be based on fact or evidence. I really like Armstrong's way of thinking because the importance does not come in the literal acceptance of every single statement in these types of religious stories (concerning Moses, Abraham, and Isaac, for example), but they are still very significant in themselves and can tell us many things about the people and culture at the time the text was written.
Over all, I have enjoyed reading Karen Armstrong's book. At times, it is difficult to get through due to a large amount of ancient historical names, dates, and facts, but I thoroughly enjoy learning about the formation of Israel, Judaism, and Christianity through entirely factual and text-based means, instead of through a lens of religious bias.
Armstrong's introduction brought up a very good point about the importance, or rather lack thereof, of who arrived in Jerusalem first. I have noticed that even in discussions with my friends about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this question of who were the first inhabitants is always brought up as sort of solution for who should have political and geographical rights over Jerusalem. Sometimes I even find myself getting sucked into this historical conversation of ancient Israelites and Arabs pre-WWII, however Armstrong reiterated a great point: this question is of little importance, and furthermore, it will not help in resolving the conflict. All sides are going to have to accept putting the past out of their minds and focusing upon the present if the conflict is ever to be resolved.
I found Armstrong's discussion on the importance of myths and legends to be something that I often discredit in terms of the validity or reliability of a source, but her take on it was quite eye-opening. She says that myths relating to "sacred geography," or the geographical places which form a part of a people's or culture's identity, "express truths about the interior life," and that even if they themselves are not entirely factual in nature, there are elements of emotional truth within them. Furthermore, she argues that for these reasons, myths are important exactly because they are myths.
While reading Chapter 1-4, I kept her viewpoints of myths and sacred geography in mind, because personally, I too easily discredit stories from the Bible because of the fact that they are myth-like in nature and couldn't possibly be based on fact or evidence. I really like Armstrong's way of thinking because the importance does not come in the literal acceptance of every single statement in these types of religious stories (concerning Moses, Abraham, and Isaac, for example), but they are still very significant in themselves and can tell us many things about the people and culture at the time the text was written.
Over all, I have enjoyed reading Karen Armstrong's book. At times, it is difficult to get through due to a large amount of ancient historical names, dates, and facts, but I thoroughly enjoy learning about the formation of Israel, Judaism, and Christianity through entirely factual and text-based means, instead of through a lens of religious bias.
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