Reading Response #3

Hello Everyone!

I adore history, especially history that I have some sort of connection to. No, my ancestors don't come from the Middle East (at least I'm pretty darn sure they don't - at least not for a long time) but I've been going to church and hearing stories from the Bible for as long as I can remembers. Stories of Abraham and David and Solomon. I had little picture books with beautiful drawings of the Ark of the Covenant and the City of David- the whole nine yards. Reading Karen Armstrong's more historically-supported account is really really cool.

I don't consider myself particularly religious anymore, but learning about the true (at least supposedly) stories of these places and people is really exciting. I dunno if it's the nerd in me or what, but I blazed through the first 3 chapters (maybe not the fourth one as much - I found that a little harder to get through). I watched every history channel documentary there was on Biblical people and events. (Not that they air those anymore. Thanks a lot Pawn Stars) So yes, I know that a lot of people might find it boring and they probably would like to get to more modern history soon, but I liked it.

I like Karen Armstrong's writing style. It's doesn't have a lot of description (though there's not a lot of details for this time frame, of course so that may change) and is straight and informative without being dreadfully boring. I also find it interesting that she was a nun the first time she came to Jerusalem. Even growing up as a Christian, I still think of Jerusalem as a Jewish v. Muslim issue. And I found it's a bit surprising that the person who wrote the book for the class is (or was at one point) a Catholic. Perhaps it will eliminate some of the typical bias one associates with writings on Jerusalem. I also looked at her Wikipedia page and saw that she is called one of the foremost religious historians and she also won the TED Prize in 2008. I think that we can probably trust her writing (to an extent of course).

Lastly, I like the maps she provides. It's cool to see how the village, then, town, then citadel, then capital, then city of Jerusalem morphs and shifts throughout time.

As sign off, I'm going to continue to be pretty informal with my writing. I enjoy blogging a lot more this way. I hope no one minds!