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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... nearby Jebel ad - Dayr to the Monastery of St. Katherine each Saturday night to pass that evening and Sunday in prayer and communal meals with the monks , and to obtain his week's provisions , including sardines , olive oil , and ...
... nearby Basin of Elijah . According to monks today the altar of this church is built over the very rock from which God hewed the tablets of the Law . Earlier monks told pilgrims that the marks left by Moses ' knees were still imprinted ...
... nearby holy spot of Matabb an - Naaga in a much scaled - back version of the herd blessings and other rituals the Jabaliya practiced there previously . 275 The Tourist 276 Mount Sinai The Bedouins now keep the summit's mosque.
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
Five | 14 |
YOU WILL WORSHIP GOD ON THIS MOUNTAIN | 32 |
Copyright | |
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References to this book
Managing Sacred Sites: Service Provision and Visitor Experience Myra Shackley,Myra L. Shackley No preview available - 2001 |