Abstract
What are cities, God, and nationalism doing together in the title of this book? Surely a book with a title that speaks of faith, politics, and place would have to offer something of interest to many. Simply connecting the dots would merit some attention.
Cities of God and Nationalism is neither about cities, God, nor even nationalism (it is about Zionism but more on that in a minute). But it's the title, you ask. and I answer with another question: why would cities of God that allegedly represent sacred places be linked to something as profoundly and profanely grounded as the concept of nationalism? Now we are getting serious about what this book addresses. the title's oxymoronic connection between God and nation–states is actually the thesis of this book. According to Samman, nationalism introduces divisions between people; with nationalism, there are us and them (i.e., us and not us). Cities of God should be otherworldly and transcendent, breeding unification, not divisions. Nationalism is ultimately the enemy of God and undermines a city's sacred character because nationalism, by definition, claims ownership of place and places.
With the focus on Mecca, Jerusalem, and Rome, the book introduces the concept of the sacred into the world cities lexicon. These sacred world cities literally transcend parochial issues of nationalism and “are thus not bound to the finite imaginary map of the state on which they reside. Their past belongs to a world community over which the state has little, if any, moral or cultural hold” (p. 18).
The author argues that this transcendence over the polity works for Mecca and Rome. in part, the capacity of these two cities to rise above the nation–state is rooted in theology. Christianity and Islam, he asserts, were created with “a universalistic vision of the world … that was open to humankind as a whole” (p. 6). Universalism is the antidote to nationalism because if we are one, there is no us or there is no them, there is only “we.” Although the historical record is not a linear one, Samman professes that Mecca and Rome do not succumb to nationalist tendencies because the religions themselves are unifying and are theologically disinterested in nation–states.
Judaism, however, is very different. It is a particularistic religion as illustrated by its emphasis on the faith's covenant with God and its status as God's chosen people. From Judaism's inception, according to Samman, it has been characterized by its exclusivity, rather than its inclusivity. in fact, the book asserts, Christianity and Islam themselves are reactions to the particularistic nature of the Jewish faith.
The stories of Rome and Mecca are dealt with quickly in this book because their stories are not the point of the book. the alleged sacred qualities of these cities and their seeming universal character are not important except as foils for the main point of the book. the good religions, Christianity and Islam, are juxtaposed against the bad religion, Judaism.
What is so bad about Judaism? Most of the book is about how the particularistic nature of Judaism constitutes the core problem for Jerusalem in its alleged quest to be a sacred world city. Judaism's professed uniqueness ideologically predisposes it to nationalism or more specifically, Zionism. and Zionism with its emphasis on Israel as a Jewish state undermines Jerusalem as a sacred world city.
The bulk of the book is an energetic attack on Zionism and its ideological and political allies. This, in itself, makes the book neither good nor bad. But let me be clear that this is not a book about sacred world cities or really cities at all. Except with references to Jerusalem's Old City or areas close to it, it is not about Jerusalem either. It is about what the author sees as “Zionism's devastating impact on Jerusalem” (p. 156).
What are the charges? There are familiar ones, including expelling and isolating Palestinian inhabitants, the post–1967 occupation of the West Bank, and the construction of the security fence or wall. But Zionism as a movement, according to the author, does not solely belong to Jews either in Israel or elsewhere. Allies of Zionism have helped fuel this movement and have increased its power and velocity. Although the motivations vary considerably, these allies of Zionism include the British, Protestants, Evangelicals, and more generally, the West itself. Even extremely religious Jews (the ultra–Orthodox) who previously scorned Zionism while waiting for the Messiah have become what he calls militant Messianic Zionists with claims of biblical connections to much of the West Bank as well as Jerusalem. Zionists, in short, are everywhere.
This political constellation has given impetus to, shaped, and reinforced a Palestinian identity that has taken on its own nationalistic character. So now, Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, the occupied territories … whatever you may use to name this part of the Middle East, has two competing national identities. So much for Jerusalem's future as the transcendent sacred world city.
This could have been a good book. But the zealotry for bashing Judaism and Israel is an intellectual turnoff. Many of us are fully aware of what has happened in the name of Zionism and welcome serious analysis that will take us to a level where we can broach issues of peace, security, and transcendence, particularly in Jerusalem. This calls for dispassionate analysis, not dogma, which permeates this book even when many of the facts cited are correct. But how can we take seriously a book that is about the origins and creation of a Jewish state (remember, nationalism is in the title) that never even mentions the Holocaust? According to Samman, Zionism is rooted in the theological origins of Judaism. But did not anything else happen to foster nationalist tendencies in Jewish people besides the covenant with Abraham? Come on.
Moreover, the claim that modernity coupled with Zionism has “unraveled” Jerusalem is overstated. Jews, Christians, and Muslims remain spiritually connected to Jerusalem; its memories, images, and symbols are very much alive. Jerusalem's spiritual reach encompasses millennia, not the half century that the State of Israel represents.
Samman hopes his book will “deconstruct the highly problematic national identity” (p. 211) and ultimately open the possibility of a Jerusalem that speaks of unity, not divisions. This goal is noble and worthwhile, although Cities of God and Nationalism is unlikely to help us get there.