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Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths QUOTES

Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths QUOTES

1 " Mythology was never designed to describe historically verifiable events that actually happened. It was an attempt to express their inner significance or to draw attention to realities that were too elusive to be discussed in a logically coherent way. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

2 " Then, as now, there would always be people who preferred the option of devoting their religious energies to sacred space over the more difficult duty of compassion. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

3 " When they have contemplated the world, human beings have always experienced a transcendence and mystery at the heart of existence. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

4 " We have developed a more logical and discursive mode of thought. Instead of looking at a physical phenomena imaginatively, we strip an object of all its emotive associations and concentrate on the thing itself. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

5 " Men and women have formulated this perception of sacred space in different ways over the centuries, but in their discussion of the special status of a city such as Jerusalem certain themes tend to recur, indicating that they speak to some fundamental human need. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

6 " The Israelis have not been the worst conquerors of Jerusalem: they have not slaughtered their predecessors, as the Crusaders did, nor have they permanently excluded them, as the Byzantines banned the Jews from the city. On the other hand, they have not reached the same high standards as Caliph Umar. As we reflect on the current unhappy situation, it becomes a sad irony that on two occasions in the past, it was an islamic conquest of Jerusalem that made it possible for Jews to return to their holy city. Umar and Saladin both invited Jews to settle in Jerusalem when they replaced Christian rulers there. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

7 " One thing that the history of Jerusalem teaches is that nothing is irreversible. Not only have its inhabitants watched their city destroyed time and again, they have also seen it built up in ways that seemed abhorrent. When the Jews heard of the obliteration of their Holy City, first by Hadrian's contractors and then by Constantine's, they must have felt that they would never win their city back. Muslims had to see the desecration of their beloved Haram by the Crusaders, who seemed invincible at the time. All these building projects had been intent on creating facts, but ultimately bricks and mortar were not enough. The Muslims got their city back because the Crusaders became trapped in a dream of hatred and intolerance. In our own day, against all odds, the Jews have returned to Zion and have created their own facts in the settlements around Jerusalem. But, as the long, tragic history of Jerusalem shows, nothing is permanent or guaranteed. The societies that have lasted the longest in the holy city have, generally, been the ones that were prepared for some kind of tolerance and coexistence in the Holy City. That, rather than a sterile and deadly struggle for sovereignty, must be the way to celebrate Jerusalem's sanctity today. "

― Karen Armstrong , Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths