Wednesday, August 26, 2015


http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.667835.1437894575!/image/152856090.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_2048X1536/152856090.jpg?1439292792092

Jesus in Jerusalem: A guide

On our tour (April 15-May 16, 2016) we will be visiting a good number of the churches identified here. This is not actually a "guide" to Jesus in Jerusalem. Rather, the map of Jerusalem in this piece from HaAretz shows the location of churches marking the spots where the history of Jesus in Jerusalem unfolded. Of course the accuracy of the locations is disputed. As is typical, churches were built to commemorate events, the locations of which were based on tradition. Even so, the church at each site doesn't so much identify the location, as it invites pilgrims, both imaginatively and prayerfully, to enter the story it commemorates .

From the introduction to the page: "Once there was only a cave, or a scarred piece of bedrock. Across the generations, the faithful passed on the stories of Jesus, and pointed at the places in Jerusalem where a miracle, a teaching or an event was said to have happened some 2,000 years ago. And over the eons, sometimes a mere few centuries after the event, churches were erected to mark the sites where Jesus is believed to have worked his wonders. Today these shrines, restored to glory, are destinations for people all over the world."

On the map, click on the yellow church icons to open up a picture and explanation of the spot.