In many cases, these arguments are persuasive to the extent to which they define the religious proposition as a limit or convergent case: For Aquinas, for example, God as first cause or first mover, or God as the ultimate telos or source of all philosophical confidence. While they may be rhetorically dazzling in effect, these arguments resolve to special pleading for faith as not entirely subject to secular categories of reason, as when Habermas defined God as that aspect of experience "that gives coherence, unity, and thickness to [a] life-world" that would otherwise be ruled entirely by secular systems (Habermas 121)
What is nowadays called the higher criticism of the Bible is only a study of the Bible from this existential point-of-view, neglected too much by the earlier church. Under just what biographic conditions did the sacred writers bring forth their various contributions to the holy volume? And what had they exactly in their several individual minds, when they delivered their utterances? (James 9) Thus, for James and similarly "Athenian" students of religion, the content of faith is left for the faithful to evaluate and interpret; it is only the forms of faith that are suitable subjects for academic (historical, psychological, sociological, literary) interrogation
Kant unifies these quasi-religious categories with the unproven (and to him, unproveable) existence of God to posit that whether or not the transcendental object of faith is real, the philosopher (or anyone else) must live "as if" it does in fact exist. "It is morally necessary," he wrote, "to assume the existence of God" defined as the basis of all duty, law, and other aspects of humanity's moral sense (Kant 134)
But this act of letting go is surely also something; it is indeed a contribution of mine. Must not this also be taken into the account, this little moment, brief as it may be -- it need not be long, for it is a leap (Kierkegaard 25)
While they may be rhetorically dazzling in effect, these arguments resolve to special pleading for faith as not entirely subject to secular categories of reason, as when Habermas defined God as that aspect of experience "that gives coherence, unity, and thickness to [a] life-world" that would otherwise be ruled entirely by secular systems (Habermas 121). Even contemporary apologetics are concerned with carving out a privileged territory for the "sacred" within a secular world; thus, if "philosophy" is consciously delimited as the study of the logos or of logic, then "religion" is allowed free reign over everything else, including love and faith (Lawless 2)
Strife was simply a part of the way things were during the First World War, and that strife has continued to show itself throughout the many different issues that Jerusalem has faced as history has unfolded. The tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are at the heart of the ethnic difficulties seen in Jerusalem, both in the WWI period and today (Cline, 2004)
The tug-of-war that was at the heart of Jerusalem's history during the WWI time period is portrayed in the book by Jacobson (2011) as one that struck to the very core of the city and its people. In December of 1917, the Ottoman Empire was replaced by British rule in Jerusalem (Jacobson, 2011)
Additionally, the visions and narratives held by those who lived in the city and those who wanted to control it were both very different. That clash of visions often kept the community from advancing or evolving in any way, and pulled Jerusalem in a number of directions (Sebag Montefiore, 2011)
These alliances were complex, and based on the context of the time. In other words, the kinds of alliances that were formed during WWI, both politically and socially, would not necessarily be the same kinds of alliances that would be formed at any other time (Wasserstein, 2002)
Jerusalem and the Jewish People The Jewish people have endured many struggles throughout history. After their successful escape from Egyptian captivity following Moses, they wandered through the desert for four decades before entering the Promised Land (McDowell and Stewart, 1992)
For him, the ideal messiah will "arise and restore the kingdom of David to its original state." (Ariel, 1995: 230)
King David in History Many researchers, including archaeologists and historians, have sought to corroborate the Biblical account of King David in Jerusalem. They have had difficulty narrowing down a precise date for his conquest although most place it sometime in the 10th century BCE (Gavron, 2003)
Jerusalem is arguably Christianity's most important city, during the time of the New Testament all the way up to today. Though control of the city has changed hands many times, its main role has been as the capital of Israel and the site of the Jewish temple, and indeed, Jerusalem plays an important role in the Old Testament history of Israel's founding and growth (Armstrong, 2005, p
By examining the importance of Jerusalem to Jesus' life as well as the state of the city today, one is able to better understand how the historical and social issues Jesus dealt with during his life and travels reverberate well into the twenty-first century. The Gospels differ slightly on how many times Jesus actually visited Jerusalem, with Matthew, Mark, and Luke all agreeing that he visited the city at least once, for Passover, after which he was crucified outside the city gates, while John includes three visits to Jerusalem during Jesus' ministry (Harris, 1998, p
194). However, it serves a crucial role in the New Testament as well, where it is mentioned over one-hundred forty times, not only in the context of the literal city visited by Jesus and his disciples, but also in the form of New Jerusalem, the new city created by God in Revelations (Morton, 2002, p
Thus, when he visits as a child, he educates the teachers and elders in an attempt to guide them. When he returns as an adult, however, the city, and particularly the Temple, has only degraded further, to the point that the Temple itself is filled with merchants and moneylenders who Jesus forcefully casts out (Paton, 1908, p
Finally, Matthew and Luke record that during his time fasting in the desert, the devil appears to Jesus and tempts him. For the second of these temptations, the devil somehow takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple, and tells him to jump off, safe in the knowledge that angels will save him (Walker, 1996, p
The author also explains that excavations that took place in 1974 found a partially refurbished medieval Zion Gate tower. The excavation also found an inscription at the sight which is believed to be evidence that the gate was erected during the Ayyubid period around 1212 (Boas, 2001)
After the Crucifixion it was on Mount Zion that He appeared to his disciples and his Mother. Mary lived and died here in a house that became known as the Holy Cenacle (Carlson, 1951)
C. The Crusaders and Turkish Ottomans further altered it, with the present walls and gates dating from 1537-1541 (Strubbe, 1998)