The city of Jerusalem stands as a religious crossroads unlike any place in history. As such, it possesses a volatile chemistry that--as we are made painfully through news reports and television--explodes on a regular basis. Karen Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who teaches Judaism and is an honorary member of the Association of Muslim Social Services, has compiled a thorough narrative of the city's fascinating 3,000-year history. Though she emphasizes the city's religious turning points, she recounts battles, earthquakes and various other events, such as invasions by the Romans and the Crusaders, just a millennium apart, that nearly wiped out the city. Her comprehensive explanations provide a context to the current strife in Israel.

From Publishers Weekly
British religious scholar Armstrong (A History of God) has written a provocative, splendid historical portrait of Jerusalem that will reward those seeking to fathom a strife-torn city. Her overarching theme, that Jerusalem has been central to the experience and "sacred geography" of Jews, Muslims and Christians and thus has led to deadly struggles for dominance, is a familiar one, yet she brings to her sweeping, profusely illustrated narrative a grasp of sociopolitical conditions seldom found in other books. Armstrong spares none of the three monotheisms in her critique of intolerant policies as she ponders the supreme irony that the Holy City, revered by the faithful as symbol and site of harmony and integration, has been a contentious place where the faiths have fought constantly, not only with one another but within themselves, in bitter factions. Her condemnation of Israel's 1967 annexation of the Old City and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War ("It was impossible for Israelis to see the matter objectively, since at the [Western Wall] they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends.-- they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
On the 3000th anniversary of David's capture of Jerusalem, Armstrong (A History of God, LJ 9/15/93) wrote this book "to find out what a holy city was" and to see how it is holy to the Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Her work is a historical commentary based on contemporary accounts from the earliest mention of Jerusalem to 1995, thus differing from Hershel Shanks's Jerusalem (LJ 11/15/95), which focuses on archaeology, and from City of the Great King (LJ 2/15/96), which highlights specific aspects of religious attitude as reflected in art and intellectual history. The concepts of replacing God with the sacred, mythology as an ancient form of psychology, and the symbolism of sacred geography, architecture, and rituals as expressing truths about the inner life are all interwoven throughout the text. Though Armstrong overvalues speculation in promoting her own ideas, e.g., she confidently bases her argument that David and Solomon's court and society in Jerusalem was Jebusite on an elaborate sequence of "perhaps," "could also," and "may have been" statements, her narrative is sprightly and interesting. For academic libraries.?Eugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, GreeleyCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Washington Post
Splendid . . . Eminently sane and patient . . . Essential reading for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike.

The New York Times, Gustav Niebuhr
Her book is very good, admirable for being concise and evenhanded in discussing the disputed terrain. Throughout, Ms. Armstrong maintains her focus, never losing sight of the city as her subject. The historical details she cites can be fascinating.

From AudioFile
What is the majesty of Jerusalem that has caused it to become the Holy City of three different religions? Karen Armstrong, who was a Roman Catholic nun for seven years, expertly reveals Jerusalem's creation myth as it stands for Jews, Christians and Muslims. The stories of this spiritual center's people and past are fascinating. Armstrong's portrayals are riveting. Her masterful and energetic tone conveys deep wisdom of the city's legends. Listeners become her students and learn of the power of this "sacred space"--its importance in a modern world in which religion and true spirituality are often forgotten. R.A.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
In her award-winning History of God (1993), Armstrong traced humanity's circuitous route toward monotheism. Now, in this compelling companion volume, she examines how the belief in a single God manifests itself in a sense of sacred geography, the idea that a particular setting can make possible the transcendence necessary to connect the individual with the divine. That Jerusalem has served, in different ways, as sacred space for the world's three dominant monotheistic religions has been both the city's blessing and its curse. With clarity, compassion, and remarkable eloquence, Armstrong leads us along a more than 4,000-year path--from the reign of David through the Babylonian captivity, the destruction of two Jewish temples, the Roman occupation, the early Muslem period, the Crusades, the Ottoman era, and on to the establishment of the state of Israel and the current Palestinian conflict. Throughout her chronicle of this always contentious and often bloody history, Armstrong stresses the relative failure of all three religions to practice the principles of "practical charity and social justice" that were crucial to the cult of Jerusalem from the very beginning: "All its monotheistic conquerors have had to face the fact that Jerusalem was a holy city to other people before them. Since all three faiths insist on the absolute and sacred rights of the individual, the way that the victors treat their predecessors in the Holy City must test the sincerity of their ideals." The tragic conclusion is that none of those ideals have fared very well, yet Armstrong is not without hope: "the history of Jerusalem teaches us that nothing is irreversible." Just as Jerusalem has mythic meaning for three religions, so its story has mythic meaning for all humanity. Armstrong's words reverberate wherever conquerors mistreat the conquered, and wherever barbed wire scars the landscape, sacred or secular. This is history at its most powerful. Bill Ott

From Kirkus Reviews
A weighty but not evenly weighted study of monotheism's sacred geography and the inglorious history of Jerusalem's turf wars. Armstrong (a former Catholic nun and author of the bestselling A History of God, 1993) begins by desanctifying her setting as a Bronze Age high place of paganism called Rushalimum. Even King David's Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) is said to be a Jebusite holy city turned Jewish by biblical chroniclers named J, E, D, and P, who were highly subjective and ``cavalier'' with their sources. While Israelites are dismissed as Canaanite idol worshipers and even Trinitarians (whom Armstrong graces with belief in Christian typologies), early Christians are depicted as rising above Jerusalem's savage and exclusivist Temple ``cult.'' The author's critical tone recedes as she depicts how the apostle John ``saw Christ, mysteriously identified with God himself, seated on the heavenly throne'' in a New Jerusalem, a celestial city where Christ had taken the place of earthly Jerusalem. Centuries later, Christianity takes a revolutionary turn from the concept of a Heavenly Jerusalem after the Byzantine ``discovery'' of the tomb of Christ on Golgotha (whose historicity is unchallenged). Armstrong's tone nearly rises to reverential when the bloody Crusaders are displaced by Muslims, who are depicted as Jerusalem's most tolerant, nonviolent, and monotheistic rulers. We learn that inside the Dome of the Rock are Koranic ``verses denying the shocking notion that God sired a son,'' but we're never reminded how aggressively Islam rewrites and coopts Jewish and Christian scripture and history. While both Christians and Muslims used the Temple Mount as a garbage heap, Armstrong closes with concern that today's Jewish state, whose ``claim to the city was dubious,'' not continue its ``sterile and deadly struggle for sovereignty'' in the Holy City. A History of God is a hard act to follow, and this lucid but unbalanced sequel on God's hometown may not be popular with many of those readers most eager to make a literary pilgrimage to Jerusalem. (60 illustrations, 37 maps; color photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description

Jerusalem, the Holy City, venerated for centuries by Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike; no other city has remained the center of such conflict for so long. Now Karen Armstrong, author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed A History of God, explains how this came to be as she unravels the meaning of a "holy city" and shows how Jerusalem has become deeply rooted in the identities of all three religions of Abraham.

Throughout, Armstrong helps us understand the mythic nature of Jerusalem's holiness as she explores the "primitive ideal of a sacred space," an ideal that continues to arouse powerful emotions. She describes Jerusalem's richly woven history, tracing its battles, archaeology, and ever-changing topography which is often designed to reflect a people's inner world.

Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths tells the fascinating story of Jerusalem from its earliest beginnings during the third millennium BCE to the present-day, explaining why Jerusalem is still a vibrant, sometimes violent political issue in the Middle East.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jerusalem has been venerated for centuries as a Holy City by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. How this came to be and what it means both to the people of Jerusalem and to millions around the world is now richly told by the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed A History of God. In every major religion, a "holy place" has helped men and women define their own place, indeed their own importance, in the world. Karen Armstrong shows how Jerusalem has become that defining place for adherents of the three religions of Abraham. She makes us see that the city has been not only a symbol of God but also a deeply rooted part of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim identity. She traces Jerusalem's physical history and spiritual meaning from its beginnings during the third millennium BC to its politically troubled and violent present. She explores the underlying currents that have played a part in Jerusalem's long and turbulent past, and she considers as well its archaeology and ever-changing topography. Throughout, Armstrong helps us understand the profound mythic sources of Jerusalem's holiness, its continuing power to arouse passions, and why the primal ideal of sacred space is once again a vital issue in Middle Eastern politics.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

British religious scholar Armstrong (A History of God) has written a provocative, splendid historical portrait of Jerusalem that will reward those seeking to fathom a strife-torn city. Her overarching theme, that Jerusalem has been central to the experience and "sacred geography" of Jews, Muslims and Christians and thus has led to deadly struggles for dominance, is a familiar one, yet she brings to her sweeping, profusely illustrated narrative a grasp of sociopolitical conditions seldom found in other books. Armstrong spares none of the three monotheisms in her critique of intolerant policies as she ponders the supreme irony that the Holy City, revered by the faithful as symbol and site of harmony and integration, has been a contentious place where the faiths have fought constantly, not only with one another but within themselves, in bitter factions. Her condemnation of Israel's 1967 annexation of the Old City and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War ("It was impossible for Israelis to see the matter objectively, since at the [Western Wall] they had encountered the Jewish soul"), however, pushes too far her theme of sacred geography as the physical embodiment of motivating myths and legends. (May)

Library Journal

On the 3000th anniversary of David's capture of Jerusalem, Armstrong (A History of God, LJ 9/15/93) wrote this book "to find out what a holy city was" and to see how it is holy to the Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Her work is a historical commentary based on contemporary accounts from the earliest mention of Jerusalem to 1995, thus differing from Hershel Shanks's Jerusalem (LJ 11/15/95), which focuses on archaeology, and from City of the Great King (LJ 2/15/96), which highlights specific aspects of religious attitude as reflected in art and intellectual history. The concepts of replacing God with the sacred, mythology as an ancient form of psychology, and the symbolism of sacred geography, architecture, and rituals as expressing truths about the inner life are all interwoven throughout the text. Though Armstrong overvalues speculation in promoting her own ideas, e.g., she confidently bases her argument that David and Solomon's court and society in Jerusalem was Jebusite on an elaborate sequence of "perhaps," "could also," and "may have been" statements, her narrative is sprightly and interesting. For academic libraries.-Eugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley

Kirkus Reviews

A weighty but not evenly weighted study of monotheism's sacred geography and the inglorious history of Jerusalem's turf wars.

Armstrong (a former Catholic nun and author of the bestselling A History of God, 1993) begins by desanctifying her setting as a Bronze Age high place of paganism called Rushalimum. Even King David's Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) is said to be a Jebusite holy city turned Jewish by biblical chroniclers named J, E, D, and P, who were highly subjective and "cavalier" with their sources. While Israelites are dismissed as Canaanite idol worshipers and even Trinitarians (whom Armstrong graces with belief in Christian typologies), early Christians are depicted as rising above Jerusalem's savage and exclusivist Temple "cult." The author's critical tone recedes as she depicts how the apostle John "saw Christ, mysteriously identified with God himself, seated on the heavenly throne" in a New Jerusalem, a celestial city where Christ had taken the place of earthly Jerusalem. Centuries later, Christianity takes a revolutionary turn from the concept of a Heavenly Jerusalem after the Byzantine "discovery" of the tomb of Christ on Golgotha (whose historicity is unchallenged). Armstrong's tone nearly rises to reverential when the bloody Crusaders are displaced by Muslims, who are depicted as Jerusalem's most tolerant, nonviolent, and monotheistic rulers. We learn that inside the Dome of the Rock are Koranic "verses denying the shocking notion that God sired a son," but we're never reminded how aggressively Islam rewrites and coopts Jewish and Christian scripture and history. While both Christians and Muslims used the Temple Mount as a garbage heap, Armstrong closes with concern that today's Jewish state, whose "claim to the city was dubious," not continue its "sterile and deadly struggle for sovereignty" in the Holy City.

A History of God is a hard act to follow, and this lucid but unbalanced sequel on God's hometown may not be popular with many of those readers most eager to make a literary pilgrimage to Jerusalem.