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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... sacred precinct , but the landscape was predominantly a Christian image of Mount Sinai . It was a sacred landscape that could not be altered for any secular purpose . Bonds between the monks and Bedouins maintained it in a pristine ...
... sacred . I don't think it should be commercialized . You'd have all these German and Dutch and Scandinavian tour ... sacred site , sacred even to Muslims , " said Sayyed Gamei , an employee of the Egyptian Wildlife Ser- vice ...
... sacred . Mount Sinai , where God came to earth , is about to become a sacred place made tacky . . . . " Whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death , " said the Lord . For over 3,000 years , the occupiers of the Sinai ...
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 |