Editing Temple Mount (section)

===Christianity===
{{See also|Jerusalem in Christianity}}
The Temple was of central importance in Jewish worship in the [[Tanakh]] ([[Old Testament]]). In the [[New Testament]], [[Herod's Temple]] was the site of several events in the life of [[Jesus]], and Christian loyalty to the site as a focal point remained long after his death.<ref>Jonathan Klawans, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zJpwA3EareUC&pg=PA236 ''Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism,''] Oxford University Press, US, 2006 p. 236: "Some analyses rest on the assumption that the ancient Jewish temple was inherently flawed, and in need of replacement. This kind of approach is contradicted by the rather significant evidence that can be marshaled to the effect that early Christians remained loyal to the Jerusalem temple, long after Jesus' death."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jervell |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8TLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |title=The Theology of the Acts of the Apostles |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-58247-3 |page=45 |language=en-uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Jeff S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWnc_I4quw0C&pg=PA132 |title=The Internal Diversification of Second Temple Judaism: An Introduction to the Second Temple Period |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-2327-8 |page=132 |language=en}}</ref> After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, which came to be regarded by early Christians, as it was by [[Josephus]] and the sages of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], to be a divine act of punishment for the sins of the Jewish people,<ref>[[Catherine Hezser]], 'The (In)Significance of Jerusalem in the Yerushalmi Talmud,' in Peter Schäfer, Catherine Hezser (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=_mkWzIlrwDoC&pg=PA17 ''The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture,''] Mohr Siebeck, Vol. 2, 2000, pp. 11–49 [17].</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Klawans |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKpHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-992862-0 |page=13 |language=en}}</ref> the Temple Mount lost its significance for Christian worship with the Christians considering it a fulfillment of Christ's prophecy at, for example, Matthew 23:38<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|23:28|NRSV}}.</ref> and Matthew 24:2.<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|24:2|NRSV}}.</ref> It was to this end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianity's [[supersessionism|victory]] over Judaism with the [[New Covenant]],<ref name="Marsham">Andrew Marsham, 'The Architecture of Allegiance in Early Islamic Late Antiquity,' in Alexander Beihammer, Stavroula Constantinou, Maria G. Parani (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0WJTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 ''Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean: Comparative Perspectives''], Brill, 2013, pp. 87–114 [106].</ref> that early Christian pilgrims also visited the site.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kofsky |first=Arieh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmzC2VEIXgIC&pg=PA303 |title=Eusebius of Caesarea Against Paganism |date=2000 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-11642-9 |page=303 |language=en}}</ref> Byzantine Christians, despite some signs of constructive work on the esplanade,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avni |first=Gideon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aTFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |title=The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-150734-2 |location=Oxford, England |page=132 |language=en}}</ref> generally neglected the Temple Mount, especially when a Jewish attempt to rebuild the Temple was destroyed by the [[Galilee earthquake of 363|earthquake of 363]].<ref name="Shick">Robert Shick, 'A Christian City with a Major Muslim Shrine: Jerusalem in the Umayyad Period,' in Arietta Papaconstantinou (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=JhOrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA300 ''Conversion in Late Antiquity: Christianity, Islam, and Beyond: Papers from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar'', University of Oxford, 2009–2010 pp. 299–317, 300], Routledge 2016.</ref> It became a desolate local rubbish dump, perhaps outside the city limits,<ref>Shick, p. 301.</ref> as Christian worship in Jerusalem shifted to the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]], and Jerusalem's centrality was replaced by Rome.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lundquist |first=John M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9VeCEwbNvsC&pg=PA158 |title=The Temple of Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future |date=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-275-98339-0 |page=158 |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Byzantine]] era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands to experience the places where Jesus walked.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} After the [[Sasanian conquest and occupation of Jerusalem|Persian invasion]] in 614 many churches were razed, and the site was turned into a dump. The Arabs [[Siege of Jerusalem (637)|conquered]] the city from the Byzantine Empire which had retaken it in 629. The Byzantine ban on the Jews was lifted and they were allowed to live inside the city and visit the places of worship. Christian pilgrims were able to come and experience the Temple Mount area.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=Linda Kay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVYkrNhPMQkC&q=Pilgrimage:+From+the+Ganges+to+Graceland+:+an+Encyclopedia,+Volume+1 |title=Pilgrimage [2 Volumes]: From the Ganges to Graceland, An Encyclopedia |last2=Gitlitz |first2=David M. |date=2002 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-57607-004-8 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |page=274 |language=en}}</ref> The war between Seljuqs and Byzantine Empire and increasing Muslim violence against Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem instigated the [[Crusades]]. The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to the [[Augustinians]], who turned it into a church, and al-Aqsa Mosque became the royal palace of [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem]] in 1104. The [[Knights Templar]], who believed the Dome of the Rock was the site of [[Temple of Solomon|Solomon's Temple]], gave it the name "[[Templum Domini]]" and set up their headquarters in al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the 12th century.{{citation needed|date= April 2015}}

In [[Christian art]], the [[circumcision of Jesus]] was conventionally depicted as taking place at the Temple, even though European artists until recently had no way of knowing what the Temple looked like and the Gospels do not state that the event took place at the Temple.<ref>Schiller, Gertud. ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I'', 1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, {{ISBN|978-0-85331-270-3}}; [[Nicholas Penny|Penny, Nicholas]]. National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume I'', 2004, National Gallery Publications Ltd., {{ISBN|978-1-85709-908-9}}.</ref>

Though some Christians believe that the Temple will be reconstructed before, or concurrent with, the [[Second Coming]] of Jesus (also see [[dispensationalism]]), pilgrimage to the Temple Mount is not viewed as important in the beliefs and worship of most Christians. The New Testament recounts a story of a Samaritan woman asking Jesus about the appropriate place to worship, Jerusalem (as it was for the Jews) or [[Mount Gerizim]] (as it was for the [[Samaritans]]), to which Jesus replies:

{{blockquote|Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.|source=John 4:21–24<ref>{{bibleverse|John|4:21–24|ESV}}</ref>}}

This has been construed to mean that Jesus dispensed with physical location for worship, which was a matter rather of spirit and truth.<ref>Andreas J. Köstenberger, 'The Destruction of the Second Temple and the Composition of the Fourth Gospel,' in John Lierman (ed.)[https://books.google.com/books?id=fWXC2krd_6IC&pg=PA101 ''Challenging Perspectives on the Gospel of John,''] Mohr Siebeck, 2006, pp. 69–108 [101–02].</ref>