Preview
This article discusses three recurring themes that can be identified from the midst of global millennialism, namely Sacred time—the categorization of history into religiously relevant holy phases; sacred geography—physical locations of great religious relevance, with Mount Zion and Jerusalem at the apex; and lastly sacred commonwealth—an ideal, transcendental state, divinely ruled, by angels or messiahs with divine mandate. The 7,000-year period or “the seventy weeks of year”, at the end of which the salvation would occur, forms the basis of the sacred time. The Islamic conquest of Iberia and the subsequent purging of Christians, Jews, and heterodox Islam put that place in the list of sacred locales. It also gained relevance by facilitating comparative dialogue among the Judaic religions. This article reveals that in Europe, the Taborites under Jan Hus and the Florentine Republic under Girolamo Savonarola, were prominent instances of sacred commonwealth while the 600-year Caliphate resembled the same for Islam.
Keywords: sacred time; sacred geography; sacred commonwealth; Islamic conquest; heterodox islam
Article. 9899 words.
Subjects: Religion ; Philosophy of Religion ; Comparative Religion ; Religious Studies
Go to Oxford Handbooks Online » abstract
Full text: subscription required
How to subscribe Recommend to my Librarian
Buy this work at Oxford University Press »
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Please, subscribe or login to access all content.