Mount SinaiAmid the high mountains of Egypt's southern Sinai Peninsula stands Jebel Musa, "Mount Moses," revered by most Christians and Muslims as Mount Sinai. (Jewish tradition holds that Mount Sinai should remain terra incognita, unlocated, and does not associate it with this mountain.) In this fascinating study, Joseph Hobbs draws on geography and archaeology, Biblical and Quranic accounts, and the experiences of people ranging from Christian monks to Bedouin shepherds to casual tourists to explore why this mountain came to be revered as a sacred place and how that very perception now threatens its fragile ecology and its sense of holy solitude. After discussing the physical characteristics of Jebel Musa and the debate that selected it as the most probable Mount Sinai, Hobbs fully describes all Christian and Muslim sacred sites around the mountain. He views Mount Sinai from the perspectives of the centuries-long inhabitants of the region--the monks of the Monastery of St. Katherine and the Jabaliya Bedouins--and of tourists and pilgrims, from medieval Europeans to modern travelers dispirited by Western industrialization. Hobbs concludes his account with the recent international debate over whether to build a cable car on Mount Sinai and with an unflinching description of the negative impact of tourism on the delicate desert environment. His book raises important, troubling questions for everyone concerned about the fate of the earth's wild and sacred places. |
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... monk but will declare the monks ' presence . The monks also built a new church in the garden of the convent in Wadi Feiran . In 1988 Jabaliya workmen of the monastery built a small chapel on Jebel Musa over the grotto where St. Stephen ...
... monks here now are very few in number . In the past there were 3,000 monks . All we can do now is be here and be representative of Christianity and monasticism . " The pressures of great numbers of tourists visiting the monastery are ...
... monk was killed by them . The monks , in their turn , have fired occasionally upon the Bedou- ins , for they have a well furnished armory , and two small cannon , but they take great care never to kill any one . And though they dislike ...
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
Five | 14 |
YOU WILL WORSHIP GOD ON THIS MOUNTAIN | 32 |
Copyright | |
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Managing Sacred Sites: Service Provision and Visitor Experience Myra Shackley,Myra L. Shackley No preview available - 2001 |