Reading Response 2: Chapter's 1-4 of Jerusalem by Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong's book attempts to give an unbiased opinion of Jerusalem by approaching its history from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim perspectives. She chooses to focus on the events related to the physical space that Jerusalem now occupies and the concept of Jerusalem throughout its creation. Many authors and historians of Jerusalem choose to trace the Christian, Muslim, or Jewish influence on Jerusalem and trace its influence or mark they have left on modern day Jerusalem.

Armstrong's historical account of Jerusalem shines when she discusses the concept of "sacred geography." This is an crucial idea about Jerusalem because many people that are apathetic to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not understand why people have fought for thousands of years over an arid, inhospitable piece of land. Jerusalem is has become much more than the physical space or holy sites related to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The idea of Jerusalem and the idealistic qualities that accompany the "city of peace" stand even though Jerusalem faces many problems modern cities face such as overcrowding, economic struggles, and cultural differences.

Armstrong gives insight into the beginnings of the Israelite people and where the group might have come from. They may have been a small group of Hittites, a Semitic people living near Canaan. After closer examination it seems that the Israelites absorbed many of their religious practices and gods and says that the Israelites may have been a group of Hittites that broke away from the larger group. In the time of King David, Jerusalem became a Jewish center because of signs give to court prophets, but also because it was a good political strategy in terms of location. It was also beneficial because David wanted his reputation attached to the permanent home of the Ark of the Covenant. David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and people believed that it came to be there because God allowed it, only at David's hand.

Armstrong does a good job of presenting Jerusalem's history in terms of the city itself and the physical space, as opposed to a religious point of view. Any historical account of Jerusalem will be biased in someone's point of view, but I believe that by representing Christianity, Judaism, and Islam's perception of their "sacred geography".