Jerusalem A City of Three Faiths
Jerusalem, the city of the three faiths. Jerusalem founded in between 4500-3500 BCE has become a center of the three major monotheistic faiths in the world, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Rising from a proto-Canaanite village to a city that has had crusades and Jihads launched in its name has truly been an amazing turn of events. How did it happen? Why is it important? Why here and not elsewhere? What makes people so driven to capture Jerusalem? Why has it been captured and recaptured no less than forty four times? Questions that have great difficulty to be answered often times yield the most interesting answers. Jerusalem has been beckoning those of the three major monotheistic faiths to come and seek her since all three faiths inceptions, The City of David, The City of Jesus and the place where the prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven can be seen as truly a focal point of the World’s religions, though it is in a relatively isolated area in the Levant. Jerusalem has been a center of religious fervor almost since it’s inception, it has perhaps been this way due to its almost geocentric position in accordance with the empires of the world. At first glance, Jerusalem on a geographic level seems to have very little going for it. In a region of relatively little rainfall and with an elevation of approximately 2500 feet it is difficult to move water into the city. The forests that were once around Jerusalem have been devastated by wars. Overall, it does seem to indeed have very little actually going for it in the geographic sense. The majority of Jerusalem’s allure might be seen to have come from the location and the centrality in world politics that it has had. Perhaps the main reason that it has been such a religious center since its inception is not due to the geography of the region at all but it’s location. Jerusalem is located in the center of the Levant. The Levant is located at a prime position to be a part of quite a few