Lecture 15 2/24/11

In this lecture, we learned about Jerusalem as it became an early Islamic center. For me, this was very confusing as I had never really thought of Jerusalem as a very Islamic city, although there are many who live there. It was a surprise to learn about the population distributions, and that Muslims often dominated any other group of people living in Jerusalem. Additionally, we learned about the Dome of the rock, which was commissioned in 687 CE and was completed 14 years later. The crusaders converted the dome of the rock into a church, but it was later restored when Saladin took over in 1187. According to Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is the site where Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael.
We also learned that Islam, just like Christianity and most other major religions, has many different sects. At the beginning of Islam, the supporters of Ali formed the Shi'ites, one of the major sects today. And those who preferred the ways of Mu'awiya formed the "people of tradition" who later became the Sunnis. While the Muslims were in control of Jerusalem, the Jews were not allowed to settle, but were later permitted to move back into the city

Lecture 14 2/22/2011

In this lecture, we learned about the faith of the Jewish people. Before, they needed not to have much faith, since they had the temple and believed that the presence of God was in the temple at all times. They would go to the temple to make sacrifices, and would cleanse themselves of their sins frequently. With the temple's destruction, however, they were forced to have faith that God still heard their pleas and still accepted their sacrifices. For some, this challenge was too great and they turned from their Jewish customs. For others, they found it easy to change from the temple to the synagogue as their new form of worship, and enjoyed having a physical building where they could go and be in the presence of God.
For the Christians, they began to depart from the customs of Judaism and realized that God was omnipresent and with them everywhere that they went. For them, the Holy Sepulcher became the central and most important part of Jerusalem, but was never considered to be as prominent as the temple previously was. For them, they believed that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had become the new axis mundi, and the temple mount was no longer of such great significance. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem continued, and for this reason many new churches sprung up around the city, as new attractions for people all over the world to visit.

Lecture 13 2/17/2011

In this lecture, professor Cargill spent a considerable amount of time discussing the topic of cognitive dissonance. During the Roman rule, the second temple was destroyed, and the Jews again were forced to decide if God was breaking his covenant. But this time, the temple would not be rebuilt, and the Jews would have little to look forward to. Previously, prophecy had declared that the Jews would be allowed to rebuild their temple. This time, however, they knew this was not the case, and so they began to move on with Judaism from a non-temple standpoint. Many of the rabbis realized this, and attempted to create Judaism as a religion that did not require a temple to function. They began to write down what they believed to be the "oral torah" and recorded this into the        Mishnah--the current Jewish bible.
But with the temple's destruction, the Jews began to realize that their entire center or worship had been replaced. Not only would they no longer have a place to experience God, they would also have no center for making sacrifices, or to go to be cleansed of their sins. Still, some worshiped at the temple mount and revered it as the holiest place on earth. But many others began to establish synagogues and worship in this way, counting them as similar to the temple. They believed that synagogues were almost as sacred as the temple, and that God's presence was surely present in their synagogues as well. We talked a lot about New Judaism, and how the 2nd Bar Kokhba revolt led to lots of ramifications for the Jews in Jerusalem

Lecture 12 2/15/11

In this lecture, we learned all about Herod the Great and his accomplishments for the great city of Jerusalem. Most prominently, he built the temple mount which would become the holiest place on the face of the earth for years to come. We also discussed whether Herod the Great was actually good or bad. On the one hand, he did a lot of Good for Jerusalem building many new structures for the city and making it look beautiful. On the other hand, he was also a bit of a tyrant, actually killing people in order to come to power. For this reason, he is not always spoken of in the best light. His ways of ruling were hated, but few spoke out against him because he was always making the city nicer in some way.
We also talked about Jesus for a good chunk of the lecture. Although he is the leader of the Christian faith, there is actually no archaeological evidence that verifies his existence. There is, however, evidence that suggests that there was a man named Jesus, along with other evidence during the time when he probably lived. This evidence does not mean that Jesus necessarily did not exist, it just means that, like David, few artifacts of his life remain. Which makes sense, keeping in mind that he was a simple man who had the most impact with his words and healing, rather than in building things and such like Herod did. There is also much evidence that suggests people believed in him at the time of his existence, also pointing to the fact that he probably did exist.

Lecture 11 02/10/11

Here we learned about Hellenistic Jerusalem and the influence that the Greeks had. basically, after Alexander the Great died, his empire was split into four, each of which had a large chunk of his power. So they took over Jerusalem and brought with them the practice of Hellenism, which was a Greek system of worship and overall way of life. Being the devout Jews that they were, many in Jerusalem didn't like these customs, but it was fine until the Seleucids came along and started to enforce it too strictly. They were plain mean and forced jews to give up their own religious customs. This lead to the Jews being upset and the Maccabean Revolt! Judas maccabeaus led the revolt and used Guerrilla warfare to eventually take down the Seleucids and regain power over Jerusalem for the Jews.
This leads us into the period of Hasmonean Jerusalem, which was a very corrupt period for Jerusalem. Although Jewish kings were in power, many of them had been far too heavily influenced by the Hellenization. Therefore, their religious loyalties had been somewhat compromised and their culture had turned from following God alone to following God and acting like the Greeks. This created tons of problems in Jerusalem, and some of the priests became more dictator-like than religious leader-like.

Lecture 10 02/08/11

In this lecture, we learned about Ezekiel and the second temple period. This starts with Cyrus the Great, who was a Persian king. upon coming to power, he said that the Jews could return to Jerusalem, and many questioned whether this was Cyrus's doing, or the will of God. Then, the Jews rebuilt the temple and Cyrus was king. So again, God had fulfilled his promises as the Jews were back in Jerusalem, but Cyrus was not of the Davidic line, so there is a problem there. We then learned briefly of Zoroastrianism, a faith started by this guy Zoroaster who believed in some crazy things. It is possible that the Jewish faith adopted some of their ideas (such as heaven and hell) from this faith. It appears as if the Persians had a larger influence on the faiths of Judaism and Christianity than they may have known. The Davidic governor in Jerusalem continues to lose power, while the High priest, Joshua, is becoming very popular among the people. A letter is written that asks permission for the temple to be rebuilt and it is. woohooo!

Lecture 9 02/01/11

In this lecture, we learn about shifting authority in jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar takes control and exiles the Jews to Babylon. Additionally, he destroys the temple in 586 BCE. We learn that Josiah was killed, but no real explanation of why or how he was. With this comes many promises that God appears to have broken to his servants in Jerusalem. God promised to keep a descendant of David on the throne, have a place for His chosen people, and maintain and protect the temple. But when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, all of these promises were simultaneously broken.
Professor Cargill then began to talk about the subject of Cognitive Dissonance. The formal definition is the idea of holding two beliefs simultaneously that conflict each other. In this case, the two beliefs are a firm belief in a singe, all powerful God who would never break his promises. The second is the reality of the situation, that the temple was no longer standing, God's chosen people were being exiled to Babylon and that a descendant of David no longer ruled. This was huge news for the people in Jerusalem, and many of them turned from their faith because they could not justify what had happened. Some others attempted to reinterpret God's promises and make sense of what had happened.

Lecture 8 01/27/11

In this lecture, professor Cargill focuses on Hezekiah and Josiah. He points out the fact that Hezekiah is seen in the old testament as a savior to the people. Additionally, people saw Hezekiah as a savior because when the Assyrian's attacked, they did not conquer Jerusalem—under Hezekiah's protection. This is when Jerusalem began to be known as a protected city because God had spared them from the Assyrians. Although the Assyrians saw it as no big deal because they were busy with other wars and such, Jerusalem saw it as a sign from God that their city was protected. Hezekiah also destroyed other shrines in Jerusalem, aside from the temple, to centralize the worship of God in the temple.
We also learned about Josiah, who became king of Jerusalem at the age of 8. Jerusalem was growing and expanding because people were going there from all over the Middle East, so Josiah's power was growing. He also knocked down lots of shrines--just as his father had. He felt like any shrine or God outside of the temple was made for a different God and should therefore be knocked down and destroyed.