The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount
The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount
Gershom Gorenberg
Mar 2002
Description
In this provocative work, seasoned journalist Gershom Gorenberg portrays a deadly mix of religious extremism, violence, and Mideast politics, as expressed in the struggle for the sacred center of Jerusalem. Known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, this thirty-five-acre enclosure at the southeast corner of Jerusalem's Old City is the most contested piece of real estate on earth. Here nationalism combines with fundamentalist faith in a volatile brew. Members of the world's three major monotheistic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—hold this spot to be the key to salvation as they await the end of the world, and struggle to fulfill conflicting religious prophecies with dangerous political consequences. Adroitly portraying American radio evangelists of the End, radical Palestinian sheikhs, and Israeli ex-terrorists, Gorenberg explains why believers hope for the End, and why prominent American fundamentalists provide hard-line support for Israel while looking forward to the apocalypse. He makes sense of the messianic fervor that has driven some Israeli settlers to oppose peace. And he describes the Islamic apocalyptic visions that cast Israel's actions in Jerusalem as diabolic plots. The End of Days shows how conflict over Jerusalem and the fiery belief in apocalypse continue to have a potent impact on world politics and why a lasting peace in the Middle East continues to prove elusive.
Overview
The new millennium dawned quietly, defying modern-day prophets of apocalypse. Yet for countless believers around the globe—Christians, Jews and Muslims—anticipation that the world is about to end burns more intensely than ever. God's kingdom is near, they believe, and the key to salvation is Jerusalem's Temple Mount,—the most sacred and contested real estate on earth. In The End of Days, leading Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg portrays how such faith has fueled the real-world struggle in the Middle East and reveals why, even in times of peacemaking, it continues to be a powerful catalyst for conflict.
Adroitly portraying former-hippies-turned-true-believers, American radio evangelists of the End, radical Palestinian sheikhs, and Israeli ex-terrorists, Gorenberg weaves a story that stretches from California churches to West Bank settlements. He explains why believers hope for the End, and why prominent American fundamentalists provide hard-line support for Israel, while looking forward to an apocalypse in which they expect Jews to die or else convert. He makes sense of the messianic fervor that has driven Israeli settlers to oppose peace, and describes the Islamic apocalyptic visions that cast Israel's actions in Jerusalem as diabolic plots. He examines, as well, what happens when secular politicians try to channel these religious passions for their own purposes.
At the center of this story is the Temple Mount, where Solomon and Herod built their Temples, where the Dome of the Rock now stands—and where both Jewish extremists and millions of Christian fundamentalists expect the Third Temple to be built soon. Holy to both Judaism and Islam, the Mount is where nationalism and faith join in a volatile mix. Any attempt to spark the End by clearing the ground for the Temple, therefore, could ignite holy war. This book explains the Mount's dangerous fascination for fundamentalists, and shows why the risks will actually increase in the new millennium? as prophesied dates pass and believers look for a way to ensure that the End comes.
Cain murdered Abel, according to an ancient legend, in an argument over who would possess the Temple Mount. That parable sums up the passions aroused by the sacred hilltop. The End of Days shows, with clarity and poise, how conflict over Jerusalem is rooted not only in the past but even more in expectations of the future, and how the fiery belief in apocalypse has a very real impact on contemporary life and international politics.
Reviews
"Gorenberg...shows himself an insightful listener.”—The New York Times Book Review
"Dismayingly good history....Gorenberg's book predicts not only the eruption but the location of each fault line.”—Washington Post Book World
“A prescient and invaluable guide to understanding the collapse of the peace process and the dangerously escalating conflict that has replaced it....Gorenberg's vivid descriptions of the setting and his well-crafted development of the characters make this book read like a millennial thriller, leaving the reader with a bone-chilling sensation about the violent events currently unfolding in Jerusalem.”—Boston Globe
"Gorenberg's prescience is manifest....This valuable study greatly enhances readers' grasp of [the] Middle East's religious and political complexities.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Few American journalists understand evangelical theology well enough to explain the Christian Right, few Israeli journalists take messianic Zionism seriously enough to explain the right-wing settlers, and few of either investigate Islam as more than a caricature. Gershom Gorenberg has the intellectual depth and journalistic curiosity to do all three, and as a result, his warnings chill the bone.”—The New Republic
About the Author
Gershom Gorenberg is an associate editor and columnist for The Jerusalem Report , a regular contributor to The New Republic and an associate of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. He lives in Jerusalem, where he has spent years covering the dangerous mix of religion and politics.
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