Thomas Tweed Space Summary

During the Post-Classical Age, cities and urban areas in Muslim society played critical roles in religion because Muslim people had to make religious pilgrimages to Holy Cities such as Mecca and Jerusalem, trade because the cities had huge complexes which allowed trade to flourish, and cultural advancement because the cities were filled with a variety of different people as well as there were great advancement in education.

There are two parts in Jerusalem. There is the New City and the Old City. In the Old city there are many temples, one of the most important being the Haram esh-Sharif, or "Venerable Sanctuary." In the Old City there is also the Christian Church of Holy Sepulchre, which is the place where they believe Jesus Christ was buried after coming off the Cross. There is also the Wailing Wall that the Jews go to pray at. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque are there for the Muslim community. Jerusalem is the third holiest site for the Muslim population behind Mecca and Medina.

Thomas A. Tweed, in his article Space, defied Durkheim’s characterization of space as sacred vs. profane: he argued that spaces are not static and isolated, but “differentiated,” “kinetic,” and “interrelated.” As the holy city with cultural significance, and as the center of three major religions, Jerusalem is characterized by the Hebrew Bible as one of the religious spaces Tweed defines. THESIS: “Differentiated,” “Kinetic” “Interrelated”

In the book When the Kings Come Marching In, theologian, Richard J. Mouw goes into depth about the “transformed City” that Isaiah envisions at the end of history (Isaiah 60). Our society believes that “Christ and Culture” are in conflict with one another, but Mouw disagrees with this statement and proposes that the problem is how humans have distorted culture. Mouw goes on and suggests that heaven is and will be a renewed creation that includes embodied existence on earth rather than a spiritual place where creation is apart from the soul. Mouw supports his argument throughout the book by explaining the creation of culture, Christ’s grace towards His creation, and offering a purpose to our existence.

This desire to be like others caused the Hebrews to stray away from God’s ideal social structure even though God’s structure was the more perfect one that promoted an efficient allocation of wealth and resources. This straying away from God becomes the main theme of the Bible as we read of many stories that involve God using various means from prophets and punishment to bring His people away from the customs of the world and back to His perfect will for the world. Halteman also stresses the need for a supporting community of faith in order to resist the ways of the secular world.

The main focus of this essay is what makes KKBE a jewish space. Many people would think that it’s a jewish space because it’s a synagogue one of the most important parts of jewish live. Others would say it is jewish just because it is a place of worship just like how we know a church is christian since those are the people who worship there. I believe that it is much deeper than that. A theorist Abraham Joshua Heschel has a theory that spaces are not important because they are spaces, but because of the moments that are lived through and I agree with him.

The key theological concept, derived from the New Testament, viewed the Christian life as a journey towards the heavenly Jerusalem - and one of the interpretations of this meaning was that travelling to holy places parallels the spiritual journey to heaven.

In the article “Space,” Thomas Tweed illustrated the meaning of “space” in the religious context and its main characteristics. Starting by clarifying that religious space is not the same as the generic notions of “space,” such as “undifferentiated vacuity” or “static or outside the flow of time,” he indicated that religious space is instead characterized by “differentiated, kinetic and interrelated” (Tweed, 117).

Jerusalem is very important for Christianity. In ad 66, there was a big contradiction between Roman and Jews. Rome had frequently raided the temple treasury to make up for what is called unpaid taxes. They try to destroy the temple. The temple is located in the center of Universe. It means Loving and merciful to God. One Roman historian described Titus' intentions to tear down the temple as an effort to destroy Jews and Christians with the reasoning, "if the root were taken away the stock would easily perish." The temple was destroyed. Titus was incorrect in his reasoning; Judaism was not abolished, as it is still present today. The absence of the temple caused a bigger problem for the Jew's, because they were loosing their last resistance.

In Genesis 22, God called Abraham to the land of Moriah and tested him by asking him to offer his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Abraham demonstrated his fear and faith by obeying God’s command, and therefore God provided him with ram as sacrifice and promised him, “your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves” (Genesis 22:17). Abraham called that place in Jerusalem “The Lord Will Provide,” which set it apart from other generic places Israelites has been to, and God’s promise triggered their occupation of this particular space. After King David conquered Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel a century later, he brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city, showing his loyalty to God. God therefore sent words to him, “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more” (2 Samuel 7:9). As God confirmed his blessings on the Israelites, Jerusalem is differentiated as the singular space where God reigns over the kingdom, and where both the monarch and people would be

Tweed states in his article “Space” that religious spaces are “differentiated”, “kinetic” and “interrelated”. In other words, they are intangible locales, only sensorially experienced, that stand out in some ways, that are able to be shaped by the natural and cultural influences, and thus that are not perfectly sacred and detached from secular objects. Correspondingly in the Hebrew Bible, the city Jerusalem is indeed portrayed as such a special, changing and holy but also worldly religious space that God was present in the city and He unprecedentedly approved King David’s supplication of building a temple for Him, that it could still undergo a period of desolation given the high recognition and thus the prosperity it once owned, and that some cultural impacts from a certain locale could be found on the First Temple in the city.

William M. Tweed was head of the great dramas of the postbellum period, “Tweed Ring.” The group was composed of Tweed, Oakey Hall, Richard Connolly , and Peter Sweeny, among other people. Historians believe that between the 1860s and early 1870s the Tweed Ring defrauded the City of New York from anywhere between $50 million or $940 million in today's money and $100 million which is $1.8 billion in today’s standards.

While there are many religions that have a religious connection the the city, Judaism has by far the strongest connection because of the Western Wall, the two temples, and the Torah. As stated before, Jerusalem is mentioned many times throughout the Torah, while in the Quran, Jerusalem is not mentioned once. (in text citation). Israel is a religious state, specifically a Jewish state. It would make sense to make the holiest site of Judaism the capital of the religious state. Even though Israel is a religious state, there is religious freedom in the country under the Knesset Law. The law states, “places holy to the peoples of all religions shall be protected from any desecration and from any restriction of free access to them.” (in text citation) Since the 1860s, the Jewish people have been the largest ethnic group in Jerusalem and has not yet been interrupted. (in text citation). Splitting Jerusalem into East and West Jerusalem will separate and cause Jewish people to leave their homes on the East side, since the majority of the city is Jewish people. In Israel, as well as all over the world, there is an ideology called Zionism. Zionists believe, “Judaism is a nationality as well as a religion, and that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland,” (in text citation) Zionism creates a feeling of nationalism and pride. After the persecution of the Jewish people during the Holocaust, many Jewish people felt the need to have a home and a safe place. A reason Israel was established as the homeland for the Jewish people was because of this persecution, persecutions throughout history, and the innate connection between the Jewish people and

The Christian religion views Jerusalem of importance because it is the location of “His crucifixion, burial and ascension” and it “symbolizes the new people of God redeemed by the Messiah, Jesus Christ.” Christians view this location as a place of worship because of the important sacrifices and events that occurred within Jerusalem. Judaism believes that Jerusalem is significant because God “spoke of the place that He would choose for His people”. The place that he spoke of was Jerusalem also known as Zion. Two Temples were built and both of them were destroyed, which caused major devastation to the Jews. They continue to pray for those Temples and have a holiday in honor of the destroyed Temples. For Jews, Jerusalem is not just a city of importance “the city itself is holy”. It is prominent and significant to the Jews and it is more than just a city to them. Islam views Jerusalem as an important location but the Mecca is a more significant location to them. Jerusalem is important because the Prophet of Mohammad visited location in Jerusalem such as the Prophet of Ibrahim and the Church of the Nativity. The Prophet of Mohammad is a strong, important figure to the Muslims. Mount Moriah, located in Jerusalem, is one of the holiest locations to the Muslims. It is the “Rock where the as-Aqsa Mosque stands”. Each religion has important landmarks throughout Jerusalem which is a major reason of its importance to each of them. Jerusalem has definite importance among these three religions and remains a holy place for worship for all of

Distinguishable characteristics are things about a subject that makes it unique and unlike other things.