HST 454/554
Fall 2009
Portland State University
(c) John S. Ott
Revised 10.6.09

HST 454/554:
Building God’s House : Jerusalem and the Holy Land in Judaism, Christianity and Islam before the Crusades


“Why, of all places, Jerusalem?”
- Yehuda Amichai, Open, Closed, Open (New York, 2000)

“Holy City of God, Jerusalem, how I long to stand even now at your gates,
and go in, rejoicing!”
- Sophronius of Jerusalem, Anacreontica no. 20 (seventh century)

First of the two directions of prayer,
Second of the two sanctuaries,
Third after the two places of pilgrimage.
- Arabic epitheton in praise of Jerusalem (twelfth century)



Office: CH 441-M
Office hours: By e-mail appt. only
Office phone: 503.725.3013
E-mail: ott@pdx.edu

Course overview

For three millennia, the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding land has been revered as holy by believers of the three Mediterranean monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  This course explores by a combination of primary and secondary source material the meaning of Jerusalem and the power of place through the scriptural, historical, and practiced traditions of all three religions, from the First Temple period of ancient Judaism to roughly the Fatimid period of Islamic rule (ca. 1000 C.E.).  Topics include: the spatial dimensions of sacrality, belief, and religious identity; the historical (re-)invention of cultural and religious traditions concerning the city of Jerusalem and its holy sites; the changing topography of the city over time; Jewish, Christian, and Muslim pilgrimage to the holy land; and the complex and at times contested nature of a shared sacred space.

Course materials

The following materials are required and available for purchase at the PSU Bookstore.  One copy of the texts will also be put on reserve at Millar Library.
Evaluation

Students will be evaluated according to the following criteria.  Guidelines for each assignment will be posted on the course web page in advance of due dates.
Plagiarism policy

Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, is an intolerable infraction in any setting where ideas are exchanged and discussed.  It is also a violation of the PSU Student Code of Conduct, and egregious or multiple cases may be grounds for suspension or expulsion from the university.  Thanks to recent software advances, detecting plagiarism is extremely easy.  Papers that can be shown to have been plagiarized will automatically receive an “F” grade (or “0”).  Students will be required to resubmit their papers, and will be automatically deducted in their grade an amount appropriate to the late paper policy given in the assignment guidelines.  Remember, ignorance is no excuse!  The PSU Code of Student Conduct considers as plagiarism work submitted for other courses and turned into me as original, and I will ask students to submit new, original work in addition to taking the penalities above.  If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, you may test yourself at this web site maintained by Indiana University.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities who need additional consideration for the timely completion of any of the course requirements should speak to the instructor at the beginning of the term, and must be registered with PSU’s Disability Resource Center.

E-mail policy

E-mail is a superb tool by which students may communicate with the course instructor about questions concerning the course material, content, and assignments.  It is especially useful for providing feedback to student ideas and for commenting on student theses or paper topics.  But please bear in mind the following:

Syllabus

Tuesday, 9/29 – Introduction to course themes

Thursday, 10/1 – Theoretical considerations of space and the sacred

Readings:
Tuesday, 10/6 – Palestine before the Israelites; Canaan before Jerusalem

Readings:
Thursday, 10/8 – Canaan, Jerusalem, and the Temple of Solomon | Some terrific B&W Library of Congress photos of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock, al-Aqsa mosque), from as early as the mid-nineteenth century, may be found here. (Note that I am not advocating the site per se, only the photos.  The maps, in particular, are disappointing.  However, there is also a trove of twentieth-century official documents available as .pdfs for students of the Modern Middle East and Israel-Palestine. |

Readings:
Tuesday, 10/13 – The Second Temple Period | For a recent article from The Telegraph (London) on language, meaning, and the biblical creation story, click here. |

Readings:
Thursday, 10/15 – Jerusalem and Rome

Readings:
and either:
or
Tuesday, 10/20 – Jerusalem during the Diaspora: the rabbinical writings

Readings:
Thursday, 10/22 – Historical and theoretical excurses forward and backward

Readings:
or
PRESENTATION OF SITE REPORTS I

Tuesday, 10/27 – Jesus of Nazareth and early Christian attitudes toward the Temple and Jerusalem

Readings:
Thursday, 10/29 – Jerusalem: site of disaster, site of triumph

Readings:
PRESENTATION OF SITE REPORTS II

Tuesday, 11/3 – Building a Christian Capital

Readings:
Thursday, 11/5 – The Earthly Jerusalem after Constantine

Readings:
Tuesday, 11/10 – Byzantine Jerusalem

Readings/visual sources:
Thursday, 11/12 – Jerusalem in early Islamic tradition

Readings:
Tuesday, 11/17 – Conquest of Jerusalem

Readings:
PRESENTATION OF SITE REPORTS III

Thursday, 11/19 – Constructing the Haram al-Sharif

Readings:
Tuesday, 11/24 – The Dome of the Rock

Reading:
PRESENTATION OF SITE REPORTS IV

Thursday, 11/26 – NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

12/1 – Muslim pilgrims and pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Readings:

12/3 – Expanding the Promised Land

Readings: