Holy Land,Holy City: Sacred Geography and the Interpretations of the Bible

Explores the spiritual interpretation of the geography of Israel/Palestine from biblical times to the present day. What connections exist between the physical geography of Israel and the spirituality of biblical faith? How was the physical space conceived as sacred space? In a wide-ranging study Professor Robert Gordon leads the readers from the Garden of Eden to Jerusalem, from Genesis through the Psalms and the gospels to Revelation, and onwards through the patristic period, the Middle Ages and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Chapters one to four concentrate on Old Testament texts and themes relating to the 'holy land, holy city.' History, as well as geography plays a part here. Gordon shows in particular how topography of Jerusalem and its environment have been used in diverse ways in the spirituality of Jews and Christians over the centuries. Chapters five through to nine begin with 'The Geography of Golgatha' and progress into the prophetic envisioning of the end-time pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem. The vexed question of land disputes between Israel and the Palestinians is also considered. Holy Land, Holy City offers a current and contemporary reading of sacred geography in the Bible.