20250930 Intro

44,093 views Streamed live on Sep 30, 2025 CENTRE PLACE

The Hebrew Bible limits offering sacrifice to a single location: a Temple or “house for the Lord” built in Jerusalem. The original temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 bce and the second temple, built under Persian rule and greatly enlarged by Herod was destroyed by the Romans in 70 ce. The centrality of the Temple for ancient Judaism is illustrated by the names historians give to the era: “The First Temple Period” and the “Second Temple Period.” Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity developed along diverging paths in the wake of the Second Temple’s destruction. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at what we can know about the historic temples and trace the history of the contested sacred site from Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, to the present. Join the livestream to participate in the discussion and to ask questions of our lecturer during the Q&A. This lecture is part of our series exploring Christianity and the Bible from an academic perspective through history, mythology, archaeology, theology, and biblical studies. In this presentation we focus on the legends of Solomon, the temple destroyed by the Babylonians, the modest temple built by Zerubbabel and the returning exiles, and the much expanded temple of Herod the Great. We will also look at the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina that the Romans built on the site of Jerusalem, the Byzantine Christian city, the Muslim city of al-Quds with its Dome of the Rock, the Crusaders, the Templars, and more. Jerusalem Temple paintings by Alex Levin https://artlevin.com/product-category... 📚 Browse our catalogue of free lectures at https://www.centreplace.ca/lectures Your generous support allows us to offer these lectures at no cost. Please consider making a donation (tax deductible in the US and Canada): ❤️ https://www.centreplace.ca/donate ️