With Eyes Toward Zion - III: Western Societies and the Holy Land

A narrative complement to Eyes Toward Zion, Volume II (Praeger, 1986), this important new volume presents a comparative analysis of the influence of the Holy Land on Western Societies. Researched and written by a distinguished team of international scholars, Eyes III illuminates both parallelisms and unique elements in the idea of the Holy Land in the United States, Canada, Iberoamerica, Great Britain, France, and Germany. The pervasive Holy Land influence in these countries and the unique elements inherent in each culture are perceived through four constructs: diplomatic policy, Christian devotion, Jewish attachments, and cultural ties. The editors and contributors provide a detailed examination of the political and economic interests of the Western societies in the Holy Land, the role of Zion in Christian denominations, the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition and communal life, and the effect of the Holy Land on Western literature, art, and pilgrimage.

Part I analyzes North America's early involvement with Palestine, focusing particularly on the writings of early Christian travellers from the U.S. and the role these visitors played in forming America's concept of the Holy Land. A separate chapter compares and contrasts the U.S. and Canadian experience. Parts II and III examine the Iberoamerican and European experience. The long, wide ranging, and significant relationships between the Holy Land and France, Germany, and the Latin American Republics are fully explored. Focusing primarily on the nineteenth century, Part IV documents the sturdy Biblical-Holy Land-British bond. The chapters in this volume are replete with references to the writings of archaeologists, historians, scientists, biblical scholars, novelists, consuls, missionaries, tourists and, above all, settlers and builders of the Land - all attesting to the intrinsic place of the Holy Land in the world imagination.