City of God
| Monday, Mar 30 2009 01:50 PM
Last Updated Monday, Mar 30 2009 01:50 PM
During this spring holiday -- and holy day -- season, the new two-hour PBS special, "Jerusalem: Center of the World," set to air at 9 p.m. April 1, makes for a great source of spiritual inspiration.
Hosted by Ray Suarez, senior correspondent on PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," and author of "The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America," and informed by a slew of historians and religious scholars from around the world, the documentary by Emmy-winning producer/director Andrew Goldberg, is a beautiful look at the city that is considered the closest place to heaven on earth by Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Painstakingly documented and gorgeously illustrated with not only sweeping views of Jerusalem and its surroundings, but also close-ups of holy places and historical works of art -- including multichromatic Islamic paintings depicting angels and the Prophet Muhammad, always with his face covered -- "Jerusalem: Center of the World" opens viewers' eyes to rarely known facts:
n That early Muslims would pray in the direction of Jerusalem -- the place from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven -- before they changed the directional focus of their prayers to Mecca;
n That Jews were at one time altogether banned from the Holy City under the Roman Empire and were eventually allowed back in once Jerusalem was under Muslim rule;
n That the keepers of the keys and gates of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher -- which enshrines what are believed to be the sites where Jesus was crucified, died and ascended to heaven -- are actually two Muslim families.
Goldberg's documentary helps -- objectively -- to create understanding about how the three great monotheistic religions of the world are enmeshed in the Holy City, which belongs equally to all who consider it the center of the world.
