Jerusalem in Medieval Christian Thought

Jerusalem in Medieval Christian Thought

Atiyeh, George N.

Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 13, Nos. 3 & 4. (Summer-Autumn, 1979)

Abstract

Sacred to mankind, Jerusalem in its forty, perhaps fifty, centuries of existence has occupied a unique place in human history. Perhaps more than any other place on earth, Jerusalem has stirred the passions of mankind for as long as
history has been recorded, inspiring thinkers, poets, prophets, saints and last
but not least warriors and politicians. I plan in the following essay to scan the pages of history in search of the role that the idea of Jerusalem as the City of God has played in the development of Christian eschatological thought during the Middle Ages, particularly as it was reflected in the works of Dante Alighieri and other great writers and thinkers of that period. However, it is important in order to under-stand the place of Jerusalem in the World scheme set up by Dante Alighieri, on whose Divine Comedy we shall focus our attention, to consider the early Christian thinking on Jerusalem as a symbol of new and heavenly things.