CAS RN220a1 Fall 2009 (version: Sept 2 09)

Holy City: Jerusalem in Time, Space, and the Imagination

STH B19.  MWF 11:00am –12:00pm.             

Instructor: Michael Zank, Assoc. Prof. of Religion

Office: 147 Bay State Road, Room 407. Hours MWF 12-2.

Contact: Tel 3-4434 or Email mzank@bu.edu

Teaching Assistant: Ms. Mireille Bishay, bishaym@bu.edu.

Office and hours: TBA

Course Description

An introduction to the history of one of the most ancient continuously settled cities of the Middle East and to the religious and ideological meanings attached to this city by those who consider it sacred in a religious and/or political sense.

As a prism of ancient, medieval, and modern history, Jerusalem allows students to reconsider the roots of western civilizations in the worlds of the Ancient Near East, enduring regional factors that shaped the Eastern Mediterranean societies, and the origin and development of the our monotheistic traditions, as well as consider the enduring role of these traditions in shaping modern culture, society, and politics.

The course begins by providing a brief introduction to the city as it is today, including the conflict between Jews and Arabs over the very particular issues of housing and development; we then proceed to review the history of the city and the sources of our knowledge of the past, including the ways in which the city’s past and meaning have been represented, and the role of this representation in the ongoing struggle for legitimacy and dominance.

A distinct aspect of the course is the role of the international community in shaping the politics and development of Jerusalem, an appropriate subject for concentrators in IR. Questions of “city-branding” may be of particular interest to COM students. The city also affords an opportunity to consider issues of city planning (housing, water supply, etc.) and the history of architecture.

Course Goals

The overall goal of the course is to make students aware of the major issues concerning a city that is sacred to the three major montheistic traditions and central to the struggle for self-determination of two modern nations. The course provides critical information on one of the hot-button issues of our time. It is thus particularly geared toward students of journalism, politics, and international relations.

To attain this goal, we will work on the following objectives:

Familiarization with the city's development, including its political history and demography, as well as major destructions, rebuildings, and redesigns.

Understanding the causes of, and stages in, the emergence of Jerusalem as a symbol in the context of western religious and political history.

Understanding the meaning of the city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Understanding the role of Jerusalem in the modern conflict between Israelis and Palestinians; knowledge of the major positions of the international community in this conflict.

Successful participation

The city is a complex phenomenon that combines virtually every aspect of human civilization in a particular and specific form, and it relies for its survival on its great “other,” the non-city (the surrounding arrable land, the sea—in case of a port-city, etc.). An ancient city requires the study of such civilizational aspects over a long period of time during which agriculture, technology, and civilization more broadly underwent significant changes. Accordingly we need to take into account aspects of urbanism, its connection to nature and climate (ecology, agriculture), regional specifics (competition over resources), as well as cultural, political, religious and other factors that have determined the city’s economy over time. In the case of a temple city, metropolis, capital or holy city, matters are even more complex. Literature on Jerusalem is vast, and we can only look at a very small sample. The readings provided for this class are not always self-explanatory, nor is it always possible to get what is needed from the readings alone. Timely completion of the reading assignments is therefore a necessary but not a sufficient condition for success. Class attendance and being awake in class are a must.

Any absence needs to be approved by the instructor ahead of time. More than one unexcused absence may lead to a lowering of the final grade. Only in exceptional cases will an extension be granted on assignments. You need to inform the instructor or the teaching assistant a week in advance if you need to miss any class, except in the case of acute illness, when a doctor’s note will be required as a valid excuse. Please explain to your family that your principal responsibility, at this time in your life, is to your education. Think twice before accepting an invitation to one of the inevitable joyous occasions in the lives of your friends and relations: vita brevis, ars longa! You need to make sure you get enough sleep and adopt habits conducive to full classroom performance and personal study. The library should be your home away from home. People fasting during Ramadan and experiencing undue fatigue should suspend their fast.

Papers or other assignments require proofreading. You need to be awake to do this. Leave yourself time to complete the assignment, sleep on it, and reread and edit before handing it in.

When readings are accompanied by study questions you ought to be able to answer questions (or raise questions about questions) in class, whether orally or on an unanounced quiz. Your preparedness to answer reading comprehension questions will enter into your participation grade, which makes up 15% of your course grade. Participation is further measured by qualified contributions to the classroom discussions throughout the term.

Another note on reading: whenever you encounter an unfamiliar term or a topic that is unclear to you, it is incumbent on you to find additional information. Don’t rely on wikipedia but use appropriate printed encyclopedias and peer-reviewed articles, available in the reference sections of our various libraries on campus and around town. Use e-resources for subject searches. If you are unfamiliar with these research tools you need to consult a reference librarian. Part of college education is to learn how to find information and practice basic research skills.

There will be three take-home exams (20% each) where you will write an analysis of epochs and problems discussed in class based on the assigned readings, lectures, and classroom discussions. The difficulty of these take-home exams consists in the page limit. There won’t be any space for rambling and you will need to convey the essence of complex matters concisely and based on substantive information.

In a fourth paper, you have the opportunity to follow your own thread and work on a topic of your choice (instructor approval required). This will be graded on the difficulty, originality, and sophistication of the topic and of your approach to its analysis as well as general criteria such as quality of research and writing (25%). The result should be something you can be proud of and that you feel reflects your best academic and/or creative work. We will discuss possible topics in class as soon as possible.

General policies of the BU Academic Code of Conduct apply. Plagiarism or any suspicion of plagiarism will be reported to the appropriate Dean of Students and may lead to expulsion from BU.

Course websites

This course has its own web-resources. You should familiarize yourself with these at your leisure, whether or not assignments require it.

Syllabus, study guides, grade book, etc. will be available at blackboard.bu.edu (login required).

Historical outline (timeline) and links to basic research material are at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem and at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/jerusalem.html.

These tools augment the printed readings by providing a variety of maps, timelines, brief summaries, historical sources, images, and links to selected external resources.

A virtual tour of the Old City and other useful links are at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/.

Please make it a habit to check the syllabus and related course information online for periodical updates. Press the "Reload Current Page" button of your browser to renew page from server to make sure you are looking at the most recent version of any of the pages you have visited before.

Course books

Asali, K. L., Jerusalem in History (New York 2000).

Wasserstein - Divided Jerusalem, 3rd 09 (Triliteral), ISBN 978-0-3-0013763-7

Other readings will be made available online.

Recommended films

Students who feel they might benefit from a survey of the history of Jerusalem in form of an instructional video may wish to view, on their own time, "Jerusalem. The Holy City", a four-part documentary, written and moderated by BU Professor emeritus James Purvis, produced by Jon Westling, featuring Chancellor John Silber and University Professor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. One part provides an overview, the others are devoted, respectively, to Jerusalem in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions.

This documentary series as well as the following films will be made available for personal viewing or scheduled screenings at the Geddes Language Center (fifth floor, above the Tsai Performance Center). Time permitting, we will also look at film clips in class. Film is a highly powerful and manipulative art form. Our task will be to analyse these films and other media for their ideological and/or artistic commitments.

Additional recommended titles available at the Geddes Language Center:

"There is a Wall in Jerusalem" (1967). History of establishment of the State of Israel culminating in the capture of East Jerusalem in the June 1967 war. Though the footage is entirely made up of documentary films clips, the sequencing, voice-over narration and musical score establish the history of Zionism as a tale of a people victimized in Europe heroically overcoming all odds and establishing a nation of their own in their ancient homeland. Narrated by Richard Burton.

"Jerusalem: Within These Walls" (1986). National Geographic Documentary of life in the Old City based on individual portraits representing major resident communities. Largely unpolitical, this documentary characterizes all the communities sharing the space of the walled Old City as people who, at one point or another, came here as immigrants. This appeals to the American sense of origins and political community, as the film is made for an American audience.

"Kingdom of Heaven." (2005) Directed by Ridley Scott, this film captures the motivations of the French noblemen who joined the first and second crusades to liberate Jerusalem. Though the script takes a few liberties with the historical facts (see the critical comments at http://www.friesian.com/outremer.htm; search for Kingdom of Heaven), the film impressively thematizes the spiritual motivation that drove the medieval knights to take up arms and seek to liberate the Holy City from the “infidels.”

"Jerusalem." Feature film in Swedish w/English subtitles, based on a novel by Selma Lagerløf, describing a 19^th-century Lutheran revival community from remote rural Sweden that, compelled by divine inspiration, relocates to Jerusalem where it merges with an American Protestant sect. The story casts the spiritual meanings Jerusalem has had for modern Protestants against the harsh realities of the city in Ottoman times.

Course Outline and Syllabus of Readings

UNIT ONE:

INTRODUCTION TO THE MODERN CITY

(Week I)

Wed, Sept 2      Why Jerusalem? Course goals and expectations

Fri, Sept 4          What Jerusalem?

Reading: “Facts about Jerusalem” (pdf, blackboard/course documents folder; section 1)

(Week II)

Wed, Sept 9      Who Jerusalem?  Demography

Reading: “Facts about Jerusalem” section 3. (“Jerusalem’s population today” at blackboard/course documents) and “Jerusalem. Demography: Developments and Projections” (at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/Dellapergola_J%27lem2020.ppt.htm)

Fri, Sept 11       How Jerusalem? Economy and housing

To prepare for this class, follow the research prompt on the last slide of “Jerusalem. Demography: Developments and Projections” and read through the slides of http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/Jlemmunidetail.htm and see http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1996-1997/Jerusalem-+Urban+Characteristics+and+Major+Trends.htm

UNIT TWO:

HISTORIOGRAPHY, ARCHAEOLOGY and the POLITICS of RETRIEVAL

(Week III)

Mon, Sept 14   Whence Jerusalem? History and historiography

Reading: “Facts about Jerusalem” Section 2 (pdf, blackboard/course documents), From Asali, Jerusalem in History: read the introduction by R. Khalidi.

From: Zank, Jerusalem. A Brief History read: Chapter I. Foundations-Urusalim-A Tale of Three Cities, pp. 1-15: “1. Approaching Ancient Jerusalem” (pdf, blackboard/course documents).

Wed, Sept 16   Whence Jerusalem? The politics of archaeology

Reading: Nadia Abu El Haj, Facts on the Ground, ch. 6 "Excavating Jerusalem" (pdf, blackboard/course documents).

Fri, Sept 18       Jerusalem and the problem of biblical archaeology   

Reading: Essays by Finkelstein, Ussishkin, Silberman, and Steiner on the character of early Jerusalem, the problem of interpreting the extant evidence, and the Bible as a source (pdf, blackboard, course documents, folder “Archaeology of Ancient Jerusalem”). On the “Low Chronology” debate in Iron Age Israelite see further: http://megiddo.tau.ac.il/ia_introduction.html and Finkelstein’s essay on Carbon Dating (also in the “Archeology of Ancient Jerusalem” folder).

UNIT THREE: HISTORY

(Week IV)

Mon, Sept 21   Ancient Jerusalems I: Bronze Age

Reading: H. J. Franken, “Jerusalem in the Bronze Age” (in: Asali, J’lem in History) and Zank, Jerusalem, Ch. I (as above), pp. 16-19.

Wed, Sept 23 Ancient Jerusalems II: Iron Age

Reading: Mendenhall, “Jerusalem from 1000-63” (in: Asali, J’lem in History), through p. 66, and Zank, Jerusalem, Ch. I, pp. 20-56.

Fri, Sept 25 Ancient Jerusalems III/1: Persian Age

Reading: Mendenhall, “Jerusalem from 1000-63” (in: Asali, J’lem in History), 66-72, and Zank, Jerusalem, Ch. II, pp. 1-28.

(Week V)

Mon, Sept 28 (Day of Atonement. No class)

Wed, Sept 30 Ancient Jerusalems III/2: Hellenistic Age

                  Reading: Zank, Jerusalem, Ch. II, pp. 28-57.

Fri, Oct 2 Ancient Jerusalems III/3: Early Roman Age

Reading: Wilkinson, “Jerusalem under Rome and Byzantium” (in Asali, Jerusalem in History), 75-84, and Zank, Jerusalem, Ch. II, pp. 57-72.

(Week VI)

Mon, Oct 5 The Destruction of the Jewish Metropolis

Reading: Wilkinson, “Jerusalem under Rome and Byzantium” (in Asali, Jerusalem in History), 84-88.

Recommended reading: Josephus, War of the Jews (use Loeb Classic Series edition, or online version at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/tx/JosephusWar.htm). This is the classical source of the war that led to the destruction of Jerusalem. Along with Josephus’ later work, The Antiquities of the Jews, it is the main basis of every later historical account of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Wed, Oct 7 Aelia Capitolina and the Resurrection of Jerusalem

Reading: Wilkinson, “Jerusalem under Rome and Byzantium” (in Asali, Jerusalem in History), 88-104.

Fri, Oct 9 The Role of Constantine

Reading: Eusebius of Caesarea, The Life of Constantine (pdf, blackboard/course documents).

(Week VII)

Tue, Oct 13 Arab Conquest and early Muslim Rule in the Levant

Reading: Duri, “Jerusalem in the early Islamic Period” (in Asali, J’lem in History). Powerpoint on Al Quds in Islam at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/Alquds.htm. Also study the handouts, summaries, and links to other resources on early Islam at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period4-1.htm.

Wed, Oct 14 Abd al Malik and the Language of Monumental Architecture

                  Resources at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period4-2.htm.

Recommended reading: Oleg Grabar, The Shape of the Holy. (On reserve at STH Library)

Fri, Oct 16 Jerusalem on the eve of the Crusades

Resources at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period4-3.htm, including the link to Nasir i-Khusrau’s account of a visit to Jerusalem in 1047 (in Safarnama; also at http://homepages.luc.edu/~avande1/jerusalem/sources/nasir.htm)

(Week VIII)

Mon, Oct 21 Latin Kingdom

Reading: Hiyari, “Crusader Jerusalem” (in Asali, Jerusalem in History)

Resources at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period5.htm.

Wed, Oct 23 “1099”

Reading: http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/tx/FulcherofChartres.htm

                  http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/tx/Raymondsiege.htm

                  http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/tx/Raymondvictory.htm

Fri, Oct 25 “1187”

Reading: http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/tx/RogerofHoveden1187.htm and Emmanuel Sivan, “Muslim Representations of the Crusades” (pdf) in Verso Gerusalemme, published by ENEC (Europe Near East Center, Italy), URL http://www.enec.it/VersoGerusalemme/.

(Week IX)

Mon, Oct 26     Medieval Al Quds

Reading: Little, "J'lem under the Ayyubids and Mamluks" (in Asali, Jlem in History). Resources at: http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period6-1.htm and http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period6-2.htm.

Wed, Oct 28    Pilgrims and Travelers

Reading: “A medieval guidebook to Palestine” c.1350 (blackboard/course documents). Search the pdf for sections on Jerusalem.

Felix Fabri, Travel to Jerusalem (1480) (source: Palestine Pilgrim’s Text Society vol. 10; not yet uploaded but available at Mugar Library under DS102.E87)

For a bibliography on pilgrimage see http://www.york.ac.uk/projects/pilgrimage/bib.html.

Fri, Oct 30 (cont’d)

(Week X)

Mon, Nov 2      Ottoman Al Quds

Reading: Asali, “Jerusalem under the Ottomans" (in Asali, J’lem in History), and resources at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period6-3.htm.

Wed, Nov 4      The Millet System

Reading: Amnon Cohen, "On the realities of the Millet system: Jerusalem in the sixteenth century" (pdf on blackboard/course documents).

Fri, Nov 6           Travel, pilgrimage, and migration to Jerusalem under the Ottomans

Reading: Rabbi Moses Basola (c. 1523), Sanderson and Timberlake (1601), Father Horn (1740), Advice to Jewish Immigrants (18th century). An 18th century fatwa (all at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period6-3-1.htm).

(Week XI)

Mon, Nov 9      19^th-century Jerusalem

Reading: Schölch, "J'lem in the 19th century” (Asali, J’lem in History)

On the web: http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period6-3-2.htm. Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 1.

Fri, Nov 13        On the eve of the Great War

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 2

(Week XII)

Mon, Nov 16   Capital of the British Mandate

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 3.

Resources at http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period7-1-1.htm.

Wed, Nov 18   (cont’d)

Fri, Nov 20 (cont’d)

(Week XIII)

Mon, Nov 23 Divided City

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 4.

(Fall recess)

(Week XIV)

Mon, Nov 30   Divided City

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 5.

Wed, Dec 2       “1967”

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 6.

Fri, Dec 4           Jerusalem after 1967

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 7-8.

(Week XV)

Mon, Dec 7       Jerusalem after 1967 (cont’d)

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Chapter 9-10.

Wed, Dec 9       Jerusalem after 1967 (cont’d)

Reading: Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem, Epilogua.

                  Fri, Dec 11        Discussion of term papers