A book and a blog

[stef_tm]

I recently finished The End of Days; Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount by Gershom Gorenberg. It was a good read.

This book addresses messianism, millennialism, and end-times in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (respectively) by examining the possible rebuilding of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and the potential this site (same spot as the Dome of the Rock) has for igniting a political firestorm and conflict in the middle east.

The writing style is fluid and the author occasionally pokes fun at his subjects - while underlining why those with a focus on end time beliefs should be taken seriously (analogies are made with Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo (who carried out a Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995) and other fringe groups.)

The relationship between the evangelical Christian Right in the US and the hard line Right in Israel is also explored as well as new apocalyptic writing by Muslim authors that fan antisemitism and have no origin in the Qu'ran.

If you have an interest in Israel, the role of Christian evangelicals have on foreign policy, or the nature of people to cling to concepts of apocalypse, I highly recommend this book


Tom V Morris is a public philosopher (hey, that's what his byline says) and wrote a good blog on self-deception and goals; click here to go to his HuffPo blog.

Comments

[allogenes.livejournal.com]

Yeah I remember that book. I think I liked it, too. :-)