 | | |
| The Temple of Jerusalem (Wonders of the World) | 
 enlarge | Author: Simon Goldhill
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $12.24
You Save: $7.71 (39%)
Buy New/Used from $6.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  (3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 283159
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.7 x 0.6
ISBN: 0674017978
Dewey Decimal Number: 296.491
EAN: 9780674017979
ASIN: 0674017978
Publication Date: March 31, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series (Part I and Part II) It was destroyed nearly 2000 years ago, and yet the Temple of Jerusalem--cultural memory, symbol, and site--remains one of the most powerful, and most contested, buildings in the world. This glorious structure, imagined and re-imagined, reconsidered and reinterpreted again and again over two millennia, emerges in all its historical, cultural, and religious significance in Simon Goldhill's account. Built by Herod on a scale that is still staggering--on an earth and rock platform 144,000 square meters in area and 32 meters high--and destroyed by the Roman emperor Titus 90 years later, in 70 A.D., the Temple has become the world's most potent symbol of the human search for a lost ideal, an image of greatness. Goldhill travels across cultural and temporal boundaries to convey the full extent of the Temple's impact on religious, artistic, and scholarly imaginations. Through biblical stories and ancient texts, rabbinical writings, archaeological records, and modern accounts, he traces the Temple's shifting significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. A complex and engaging history of a singular locus of the imagination--a site of longing for the Jews; a central metaphor of Christian thought; an icon for Muslims: the Dome of the Rock--The Temple of Jerusalem also offers unique insight into where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam differ in interpreting their shared inheritance. It is a story that, from the Crusades onward, has helped form the modern political world. (20040801)
|
| Customer Reviews:
 nice little book July 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This little book describes not just the historic Temple(s), but also how Christians and Muslims have perceived the Temple.
By and large, I already was aware of much of what this book says about the Temples. However, Goldhill does alter the common chronology slightly- while most commentators speak of the First Temple and the Second Temple, Goldhill suggests that Herod's renovations to the Temple [which include the Western Wall] were so extensive as to create a sort of Third Temple.
Goldhill's discussion of Christian and Islamic perspectives was more interesting. For example, Goldhill discusses Paul's use of the phrase that "your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit"; he asserts that Christians have used this phrase to justify celibacy. After all, if the body is a temple, is it appropriate to have sex in it?
Fun read on a solemn subject May 14, 2005
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The writing is clever, with the right zest of irony. The book is sparkling, with the right cocktail of erudition, trivia bits, political analysis and text criticism. My intention was to browse this short volume just to find the dates and facts I needed, but I found myself reading it almost cover to cover (chapter 10, "Archeology and Imperialism", was too English-centered for my taste, and the last chapter, "The Temple is ours!", failed to teach me something new).
The main contribution of the book, in my view, is to put the historical facts in a much broader perspective -- the influence of the destruction of the Jewish Temple on modern political discourse, for example, is disserted in a truly fascinating chapter.
Goldhill (great name, since the Temple was located on Jerusalem's most sacred hill!) excels in clarifying the biblical text and in explaining the motivations behind it. The Koran gets the same analytical treatment. The book includes lots of illustrations (black and white, alas), some I've never seen before. If you're looking for an intelligent commentary on the Temple of Jerusalem thru history, don't look any further.
 Two Gods. Two Goddesses. One Temple Mount. February 24, 2005
7 out of 23 found this review helpful
There is plenty of information about the Temple of Jerusalem in this short book. We see a plan of the Temple Mount in the time of the Herodian Temple, as well as a plan of Herod's Temple itself. And we see a plan of the earlier Solomon's Temple.
The significance of the Temple is shown through the ages. We see it the Temple on a Bar Kochba shekel (from the second century AD), with a lulav and and etrog on the other side of the coin.
Then we jump to the Christians. We read a comment from Saint Jerome about Jewish pilgrims to the Western Wall, "they are not worthy of pity." By the way, disparaging comments such as this one were so typical of Christian saints that it may make the word "saint" more of an insult than a compliment. In any case, Goldhill explains how the Christians went from an initial conclusion that "there was a need for no building" on the site of the Temple Mount to a later conclusion that a big beautiful building would be a good idea after all.
The author does not forget about the Muslims (my ancestors!) and their connection to the Temple Mount. And he does discuss the Dome of the Rock. I found that especially interesting, given that I've been to the Dome of the Rock and even touched the Rock.
What's missing from all this?
Well, first, I think we're missing a couple of perspectives about the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock is a pretty structure, but it has political significance. Its words are a direct insult to Christians. Its location is a direct insult to Jews. These insults are central in nature: the fact that some Jews and Christians do not feel insulted by it does not change the challenge to Christian doctrine nor the fact that Judaism is a Temple-based religion without a Temple.
The fact that the majority of Jews do not wish to rebuild their Temple does not change the fact that some Jews do wish to do so. And I think that in the long run, those who wish to build a Temple will be very hard to stop. That will be all the more true if they pick a different location than the Temple Mount, but it may be true in any case. It is similar to the case of a girl who wants to get married. Suppose only 14 of the 84 local eligible bachelors want to marry her. What do you think her chances are? Awfully good. If only one out of six (or fewer) Jews were interested in building a new Temple, I suspect they would succeed. And the book's discussion of the Temple scroll makes it clear that a Temple is by no means a minor or peripheral element of Judaism.
So I think the Temple Mount has a potential for being a source of trouble not only in the past and present, but in the future as well. And this may be true just for nationalistic reasons, not merely for religious reasons. Not only that, I think that solemn assurances by a few Jewish leaders that the Jews will never rebuild their Temple anywhere would just make matters worse. I suspect such assurances would just make Judaism look inferior, less trustworthy, and more threatening.
Of course, there is another badly missing perspective. Three of the four most famous Deities associated with this place are simply overlooked. The Temple Mount in Aelia Capitolina was the site of the Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. I think the author ought to have discussed Them.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |