Constructions of Christian Identity and the Idea of the Holy Land: A Reciprocal Relationship

A dense network of interrelatedness exists between the formation of identities and concepts of sacred place in Jerusalem. The article explores this dynamic through examining the link between Christian constructions of identity and the idea of the Holy Land. It argues that the Holy Land is a concept developed uniquely in each context, and intertwined with the negotiation of religious and cultural identity. This theoretical framework is contextualized in the second half of the article, which draws on recent fieldwork within a number of the diverse Christian communities in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. The subjects of the ethnographic component of the study reflect upon their own understandings of their religious and cultural identities, and concepts of the holiness of the land, expressing a reciprocal relationship between constructions of identity and the idea of the Holy Land, in which each informs the other.