Jerusalem The Golden

Description

Jerusalem The Golden is a history of some of the many persons, great or small, who visited Jerusalem over the past thirty-eight centuries, from Abraham to myself. The book describes how Jerusalem became the cradle of the three monotheist religions --- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- and what was happening elsewhere in the world at those times. It is also a history of political changes in the Middle East and how the land changed hands over the centuries, from the Canaanites to the Israelites, to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greek successor empires and the Romans.

After two Christian tours of the Holy Land led by his pastor, The Rev. Frederick R. Gutekunst, in 1978 and 1985, Thomas Fisher decided to write this chronicle of some of the many persons great and small who visited Jerusalem over the course of thirty-eight centuries. Thomas made his living before retirement in a technical field, but in the research for this book he drew on his studies of world history at Fairleigh Dickinson University, from Bible studies, and from every book he could find about Jerusalem. Although most historians probably don't regard the Bible as reliable history, Dr. Werner Keller's 1963 landmark book, The Bible As History In Pictures, contains an historical account of the Assyrians' siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E. that seems to corroborate exactly the depiction of the event in II Kings 18:1-19:37. Thomas also found valuable resources in the magazines Biblical Archaeology Review and Archaeology.