A Meeting about the Mount

There really is an ivory tower. Academic scholarship can sometimes rise completely above the political fray and bring scholars together in order to seek truth. It was a group of such scholars that gathered just a few weeks ago at Providence College, a Dominican Catholic institution with strong long-term ties to the Jewish community, in Providence, Rhode Island. Under the leadership of Joan Branham of Providence College, an art history professor who is an associate dean, and Beatrice St. Laurent of Bridgewater State University, 29 international scholars—Jewish, Christian and Muslim—gathered to talk about the history and archaeology of the Har Habayis. The conference was entitled “Marking the Sacred: The Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem.” The conference was also attended by a larger audience of Providence faculty, colleagues from other universities, and the local community. Along with the conference, the college’s museum presented a beautiful exhibition of rare photographs of the Har Habayis since the 19th century.

Read the rest of the article in Ami Magazine.