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Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade (Jamal and Rania Daniel Series in Contemporary History, Politics, Culture, and Religion of the Levant) Hardcover – January 1, 2010

by Oleg Grabar (Editor), Benjamin Z. Kedar (Editor)

4.5 7 ratings

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One of the most extraordinary spaces on earth, Jerusalem's Esplanade has been regarded as sacred for about three millennia. For Judaism, it is the holiest space, where the Solomonic and Herodian Temples once stood and where, in the messianic age, the Temple is to be rebuilt at God's behest. For Christendom, it is the site of the Herodian Temple, which Jesus repeatedly visited, foretelling its destruction and announcing the advent of a new, spiritual worship of God. For Islam, it is the holy space to which the Prophet Muhammad traveled on his mystical Night-Journey and Ascension, and which holds the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa Mosque.

Where Heaven and Earth Meet is an unprecedented endeavor. For the first time, an Israeli, a Palestinian, and a Dominican institute of higher learning, all located in Jerusalem, have jointly sponsored a volume dealing with Jerusalem's sacred Esplanade—not only with its monuments, but also with the conflicting emotions they have aroused over the ages and with the passions they ignite today. The book contains eleven articles written by leading experts on the various periods, which add up to an authoritative, up-to-date account of the site's history; as well as five thematic essays, ranging from the site considered as a work of art to its roles in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim thought; a photographic dossier; and three personal views by the presidents of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Al-Quds University, as well as by Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini.

Copublished with Yad Ben-Zvi Press

Print length

412 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Texas Press
Publication date

January 1, 2010
Dimensions

8.25 x 1 x 10.5 inches
ISBN-10

0292722729
ISBN-13

978-0292722729
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

What this book calls Jerusalem’s sacred esplanade is also known as the Temple Mount (by Jews and Christians) and the Noble Sanctuary (by Muslims.) It has been a sacred site for more than 3,000 years and the source of bloodshed and tears as it was won and lost. Often, its history is told from the point of view of one side or the other, but here, rather remarkably, the three voices come together in one volume. Scholars from all three religions, under the auspices of an Israeli, a Palestinian, and a Dominican institution, write about the history and archaeology of the esplanade in 11 articles and 5 thematic essays that consider the artistic history of the site as well as offering three more personal views on its significance. Executed with care and respect, this volume will be of great interest to the lay audience. The many black-and-white and color photographs (along with maps) will immediately draw in readers, who will come away with an understanding of both the passions that this sacred space arouses and its importance to the Holy Land—and the world—today. --Ilene Cooper

About the Author

OLEG GRABAR is Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Grabar’s books include Epic Images and Contemporary History: The Illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnama; The Mediation of Ornament; The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic Jerusalem; Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Post-Classical World; The Art and Architecture of Islam 650–1250; Mostly Miniatures; and eighty-three articles gathered in four volumes under the title Constructing the Study of Islamic Art.

BENJAMIN Z. KEDAR is Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press (January 1, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 412 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0292722729
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0292722729
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.25 x 1 x 10.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,421 in Israel & Palestine History (Books)
- #11,197 in Ancient Civilizations
- #436,872 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 7 ratings

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4.5 out of 5

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Harold Kluender

Great history of Jerusalem

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended by our tour guide in Israel and we found it to be excellent. Takes an unbiased view of all religions that consider Jerusalem and the Sacred Esplanade (Temple mount area) as essential to there religion. That being Jews, Muslims and Christians.

8 people found this helpful

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chris zierke

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2015

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great book thanks

One person found this helpful

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Pastor W.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2015

thanks

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013

Oleg Grabar, who has deceased last year, has co-edited with Benjamin Z. Kedar of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Where Heaven and Earth Meets: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade (Yad Ben-Zvi Press, Jerusalem and the University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 2009) which assembles an impressive panel of Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars who present many unknown facts in three thousand years' history and stunningly illuminate the unique historical, religious, spiritual, cultural, and political importance of this true interface between, focus of, the three monotheistic, revealed, religions (the not less-charged significance for Christians is derived from Jesus' relation with and acts in Herod's Temple). The for Jews significant Western Wall of the Esplanade is not forgotten in the account.

Due to the unsolved political situation of Israel occupying East Jerusalem, al-Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, is seriously endangered. But there is hope. Grabar, in a personal statement, concludes:

"There are legal and technical mechanisms for the preservation of what is deemed beautiful and historically significant, but the implementation of these mechanisms requires decisions about governance and responsibility which cannot be exclusively in the hands of political and religious authorities. Alternate possibilities, through UNESCO for instance, have failed so far. But, if one mediates on the eschatological component of the Haram as the space where Go[o]d will be made prevail and man will be judged, one can perhaps imagine that a space shaped by the Antique world long gone and constantly enhanced by the living culture of Islam could become a place for reconciliation and mutual understanding rather than of strife and contest. Hope springs eternal."

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Hans-Peter Muller

Three Thousand Years

Reviewed in Germany on July 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

A few decades after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE, around 700 CE, the Umayyad Caliphs Abd’ al-Malik and his son al-Walid erected, in commemoration of Muhammad’s Night Journey, the Dome of the Rock (from where he ascended to Heaven) and the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, the site of Solomon’s First and post-Babylonian exile Second Temple, and Herod’s reconstruction which had finally been destroyed in 135 CE by the troops of Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Oleg Grabar, who has deceased last year, has co-edited with Benjamin Z. Kedar of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Where Heaven and Earth Meets: Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade (Yad Ben-Zvi Press, Jerusalem and the University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 2009) which assembles an impressive panel of Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars who present many unknown facts in three thousand years’ history and stunningly illuminate the unique historical, religious, spiritual, cultural, and political importance of this true interface between, focus of, the three monotheistic, revealed, religions (the not less-charged significance for Christians is derived from Jesus’ relation with and acts in Herod’s Temple). The for Jews significant Western Wall of the Esplanade is not forgotten in the account.

Due to the unsolved political situation of Israel occupying East Jerusalem, al-Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, is seriously endangered. But there is hope. Grabar, in a personal statement concludes:

“There are legal and technical mechanisms for the preservation of what is deemed beautiful and historically significant, but the implementation of these mechanisms requires decisions about governance and responsibility which cannot be exclusively in the hands of political and religious authorities. Alternate possibilities, through UNESCO for instance, have failed so far. But, if one mediates on the eschatological component of the Haram as the space where Go[o]d will be made prevail and man will be judged, one can perhaps imagine that a space shaped by the Antique world long gone and constantly enhanced by the living culture of Islam could become a place for reconciliation and mutual understanding rather than of strife and contest. Hope springs eternal.”

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