What Makes Jerusalem A Great City?

Religious spaces, characterized by Thomas Tweed, are “differentiated,” “interrelated,” and “kinetic.” As a sacred city with spiritual significance in three major religions, Jerusalem is depicted thoroughly in the Hebrew Bible and illustrated as one of the spaces Tweed defines. The Bible emphasizes that Jerusalem was chosen by God and honored by Israelites, which differentiates it as a special, singular space; the description of Solomon’s Temple shows that the Holy City was interrelated to economic power and involved in the judgment of civil cases. Moreover, the conquest, development and destruction of Jerusalem illustrate the city as a kinetic space, reflecting the unsettled history of the Iron Age. These characteristics all make Jerusalem a religious and political center from the ancient Near East time to present day, guiding the footsteps of believers around the world.

Not only was this city gigantic but it was filled with huge buildings as well. But one of their most unique techniques was building double stairways into their temples. Which they constructed two large temples for the sun god and the god of rain. Then nearby they would construct smaller temples where they had a sacrifice fire lite in front of the statues of their gods.

In the Holy world, everything has significance in relation to God. There’s no such thing as just plain decoration. Every piece of art and object are perceived as ornaments, which adds symbolism and life to the world. Two of the most magnificent masterpieces, still standing today, representing the Holy world, are the Hagia Sophia, also known as the “Holy Wisdom”, and the Dome of the Rock, dominating the Temple Mount on the holiest site of Jerusalem. They both exemplify the commitment and loyalty of the people to their Holy leader in the world of endless happiness.

One of the lucrative activities that many colleges use are their sports. Just as their professional counterpart, crowds of people pay to see their favorite team, or in this case college, go against a rival team. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), reportedly made billions of dollars in revenue off college sports. Though, this aroused a serious issue, as none of the college athletes, the ones who made such a revenue possible, never received any of the profit. As college sports grows ever more popular, should they start paying their athletes? The answer is yes they should for the athletes as they put a lot of work, many of them live in poverty, and colleges makes profit

“The grandeur of the ancient city is evident in the remains uncovered by archaeologists, including the ruins of the Artemision, the civic agora, the temple of Domitian, gymnasiums, public baths, a theater with seating for 24,000, a library, and the commercial agora, as well as several streets and private residences” (Holman, np). This was a big city, full of culture, and full of ungodly people and activities. Among the many religious groups in the city, there were many Jews there who were brought the gospel right after Pentecost (Orr, np). Because of the pluralism of religions in the city, new Christians didn’t know exactly what to believe or how to worship. On top of this, the city was constantly bombarded with false teachers trying to tell people that salvation came from works, not faith (MacArthur, np).

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.

Comic resolution is seen symbolically as an act of rebirth, renewal and affirmation in the final act of Jerusalem. Act 3 is the scene where all problems that have arisen in Act 1 and Act 2 are solved.

Since the beginning of mankind Jerusalem has been a holy city and a site where religious man finds communication and guidance from God. Throughout the biblical text a fine line between sacred and profane space is drawn and realized through hierophanies. From the elaboration of Romanian historian Mircea Eliade, a hierophany is when the sacred manifests itself in the form of a supernatural sign. Many instances within the Bible established a strong relationship between mankind and the divine in Jerusalem, which made it a sacred space to major religions including Christianity and Judaism. Made clear through multiple hierophanies, God chose Jerusalem as his home and his people’s home.

Similar to Egyptians, Mesopotamians were polytheists and their gods created the natural phenomena. However, the temple in each city-state mainly worshipped a local god and was the central power in the city. The Mesopotamians ascribed human’s appearance and characteristics to represent their deities. The presence of the cult image in the temple indicated the presence of the deity in the city. Each cult image of the local god was placed in the city’s largest and most sophisticated sanctuary. For instance, the cult image of Marduk–Babylon’s city deity–resided in the Esagila temple. Mesopotamians believed the shrine of the Esagila temple was the heart of the universe. According to the inscriptions in the Steinplatten, the cult statue, the walls and the ceilings of the sanctuary were plated in gold. In practice of the daily ritual, the servants or priests of the temple cleansed and dressed the cult statue in new clothes. Since the priests directly served the patron city god, they were respected by common people. Additionally, the inscriptions from king Neriglissar’s cylinder revealed that he was submissive to the gods and thus the king’s power was shared to the priests and the local government. Local government governed the city and controlled the economy on behalf of the city’s god. Consequently, the cult’s control over the economy and society was limited inside the city-state.

As a client king under the authority of Rome, Herod the Great lived up to his name in the political and geographical sense. Though he was undoubtably a cruel and paranoid leader, he was also remarkably successful in many different ways. If his accomplishments in the world leading up to the first century were all that were focused on, he assuredly lived up to his title “Herod the Great.” To the Jews he is best known for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem in 20 BC which was considered one of the eight wonders of the ancient world [10]. Herod rebuilt this temple in Jerusalem in part to gain the support of the Jews, but also, so that he might “have a capital city worthy of his dignity and grandeur [11].” The temple whose great outer court was

“Throughout comedy the emphasis is on human limitations rather than on human greatness” (John Morreal Comedy Tragedy and Religion). To what extent does Jez Butterworth focus on human weakness and ineptitude in his play ‘Jerusalem’?

Now enters the city, New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5), the symbol of hope. Instead of presenting another worldly power, John brings God’s power to earth, an enormous city which only the worthy can access. Unlike the beast’s (Rome’s) wealth, New Jerusalem contains a bounty of wealth for all those worthy, everything from shelter found in the high walls built with strong foundations to food provided year-round from the tree of life, and yes even jewels are present in God’s city which knows no night. Just in case the community loses its sight on how they might arrive at such a divine city, God’s throne rests at the center of New

The “City of God” is an eloquently written challenge, from Saint Augustine, for human society to choose which city it wishes to be a part of, the city of God or the city of man. As described by Augustine, the city of God is a metaphorical place where the citizens love, glorify, worship, and praise God. They find their strength and authority through mutual servitude with Yahweh. This city is then compared to the earthly city where the people love themselves, glorify themselves, find strength in themselves, and worship themselves or created things. The earthly city seeks praise from people and strives for domination. These two cities are the crux of Augustine’s novel which entails people to be worthy citizens of the City of Heaven, despite the devastating fall of Rome. Many people questioned whether Christianity was at fault for Rome’s demise, claiming that the pagan gods were angry that Christianity became the dominant religion in Rome, thus the pagan gods were thought to have left, leaving Rome vulnerable to attack. Thereby, Augustine sets out to dispute these beliefs by stating that God initiated all of creation, and in such a grand plan, the fall of Rome is rather insignificant. The more important issue is to choose a life in the city of man or the city of God, of which Augustine marks the parameters with compelling metaphors that beg the reader to choose the everlasting city because it provides the achievement of peace, the achievement of a purposeful ending, and the

Through the deliverance of a speech the former Pope Urban II incited Catholics all over Europe to take action in reclaiming the Holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslims in the Middle East. It was in this year,1095, that the beginning of the first, of nine, Crusades and thus the first series of religious wars between the Catholics and Muslims begun. The focus of this paper will remain on the Third Crusade (1189-1192 A.D)- more specifically the actions of ‘Islam’s Warrior Hero’ Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb who was better known to the English as Saladin- Sultan of Egypt. How did one individual gain the respect of both his Muslim followers and his enemies- the Catholic Europeans? Throughout history Saladin has been portrayed as a charismatic, honourable, virtuous and chivalrous man by the historians and chroniclers of the Middle East and Europe. Even the Europeans who sought to dislike this man due to his religious affiliations could not, as he encompassed all the qualities in which a great leader and a good ‘Christian’ was thought to possess.

Israel gained independence in 1948, and its vibrant democracy remains unique in the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reelected in March 2015, leads a coalition government of right-leaning and religious parties. Israel has a modern market economy with a thriving high-technology sector that attracts considerable foreign investment. The recent discovery of large offshore natural gas deposits has improved both its energy security and its balance-of-payments prospects. Despite the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and the 2008–2009, 2012, and 2014 wars against Hamas in Gaza, as well as the constant threat of terrorism, Israel’s economy is fundamentally sound and dynamic