Fall 2026
Jerusalem: Holy City, Contested City: History, Religion, and the Politics of Sacred Space
Dates: August 31, 2026 – December 16, 2026Day/Time: Monday; Wednesday 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM EDT
Level: 200-Level
Certificate: Global Humanities, Global Studies
Global Humanities certificate requirement: Global thought (philosophical traditions).
Global Studies certificate requirement: Elective.
Instructor: Bruce Chilton, Bard College
Jerusalem is among the most contested pieces of land on earth, and among the most sacred. For Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike, the city is not merely historical or political terrain, but a living religious landscape layered with millennia of meaning. This course approaches Jerusalem from multiple angles: as a site of profound holiness, as an arena of historical conflict and coexistence, and as a flashpoint in present-day geopolitics.
The seminar will develop conceptual tools for thinking about sacred space, drawing on anthropology, religious studies, and historiography. We will examine the three central holy sites: the Haram al-Sharif, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, through their founding narratives, ritual life, and contested ownership. We then move into the history of Jerusalem from antiquity through the Ottoman era and into the modern period, culminating in the contemporary conflict over sovereignty, access, and identity. Within this framework, we will pay particular attention to internal diversity within traditions, attuning to differences among, for example, Sunnis and Shiʿas; Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants; Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Ulra-Orthodox, Indian, Ethiopian, and other Jews; and groups beyond the three major traditions including seculars, Druze, Armenians, and Bahaʿis.