Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
I’ve been reading Jerusalem: The Biography for some time now (it is a big book, in mental more so than physical terms) and am finding it amazing, depressing, fascinating, and horrifying. It is the history of the city, from the days of King David, onward. So far I’ve just got to the fall of Jerusalem to the Ottoman Turks in the 13th century, and I’m already feeling exhausted. So far I feel like I’ve learnt that Jerusalem has mostly created bloody handed psychopaths, and that the three faiths who have based their creed around the city seem to have been shaped by men who cared less for God and more for power. Or maybe more for mass public executions, which may or may not have been designed to gain power. They might just have liked killing people.
The review I linked to comments that this book is likely to confirm atheist prejudices, and I must admit, I found it more effective at seriously denting my faith than anything Richard Dawkins has ever written. How many massacres were carried out by the early Christian Church? The Jewish theocratic state did what?
I would turn to paganism, but then someone would cruelly give me an account of the Boudiccan revolt and the sacrifices she made to Andraste, and then I’d just have to give up and settle for a God of my own invention. I could call him ‘Flufficus, the Ever Loving’ and pray for chocolate and soft bath towels every night.
I think I understand that there is no faith, no creed, no philosophy which a flawed human race cannot pervert. But still, I sometimes wince when I think just how effective mankind has been at doing this. And the history of Jerusalem is a painful and unflinching example.
The review I linked to comments that this book is likely to confirm atheist prejudices, and I must admit, I found it more effective at seriously denting my faith than anything Richard Dawkins has ever written. How many massacres were carried out by the early Christian Church? The Jewish theocratic state did what?
I would turn to paganism, but then someone would cruelly give me an account of the Boudiccan revolt and the sacrifices she made to Andraste, and then I’d just have to give up and settle for a God of my own invention. I could call him ‘Flufficus, the Ever Loving’ and pray for chocolate and soft bath towels every night.
I think I understand that there is no faith, no creed, no philosophy which a flawed human race cannot pervert. But still, I sometimes wince when I think just how effective mankind has been at doing this. And the history of Jerusalem is a painful and unflinching example.