O’Mahony, Anthony (ed.): The Christian Communities of Jerusalem…

March 31st, 2009

Anthony O’Mahony (ed.), The Christian Communities of Jerusalem and the Holy Land: Studies in History, Religion and Politics

University of Wales Press

ISBN 0-7083-1772-3

The Christian presence in Jerusalem has always been diverse and cosmopolitan, encompassing numerous churches representative of ecclesiastical traditions older than many nation states and ethnic groups. Indeed, the city’s various Christian communities are administered by three Patriarchs, five Catholic patriarchal vicars, four archbishops and two Protestant bishops.

From the end of the Crusader period onwards, these communities have come under the rule of numerous political entities, from the Ottoman Empire through to the British Mandatory Administration and the modern states of Jordan and Israel. The complex interaction of religion and politics, and the involvement of Christians in politics, has been a constant theme in the religious culture of Jerusalem.

The essays collected here provide a comprehensive historical, religious and political survey of the Christian communities of modern Jerusalem. Individual essays deal with topics ranging from church-state relations to women missionaries and various expressions of Eastern and Western Christian presence and, taken as a whole, offer a fascinating overview of Christianity in the Holy Land at the beginning of a new century.

Anthony O’Mahony – The Christian Communities, religion, politics and church-state relations in Jerusalem: an Historical survey

Sotiris Roussos – The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and Community of Jerusalem: Church, State and Communal Identity

Anthony O’Mahony – The Latins of the East: The Vatican, Jerusalem and the Palestinian Christians

Ara Sanjian – The Armenian Church and Community in Jerusalem

John Watson – Egypt and the Holy Land: The Coptic Church and Community in Jerusalem

Kirstin Stoffregen Pedersen – Pilgrims and Ascetics from Africa: The Ethiopian Church and Community in Jerusalem

Thomas Hummel – Between Eastern and Western Christendom: The Anglican Presence in Jerusalem

Inger-Marie Okkenhaug – Culture and Civilization: Anglican Missionary Women in Palestine

It has been reviewed in:
Holy Land Studies, May 2004, 3/1: 113-117 (review article ‘Perceptions and Realities of the Holy Land’) by Michael Marten

Submission: Michael Marten (reviewer), 31.3.09

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