Spatial Transgression and the BYU Jerusalem Center Controversy*

*The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful suggestions of the two anonymous referees, as well as Ruth Kark, Noga Collins-Kreiner, Chad Emmett, and Kelly Ogden for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Abstract

Dominant groups tend to construct the meaning of places to justify and sustain their ideology and orthodoxy in order to solidify power and to maintain their control over others. New outsider groups whose ideology disrupts the established order and sovereignty of the dominant group can be labeled transgressive (Sibley 1995; Cresswell 1996). Transgressions of hegemonic spaces force dominant groups to reexamine themselves and to reaffirm or to modify their position. This concept of transgression is used to examine the controversy surrounding the building of the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center in the mid-1980s in Jerusalem. The public outcry among some Israelis over the building of this educational edifice concerned the potential use of the Jerusalem Center as a focal point for Mormon (Latter-day Saints) proselytizing efforts. We examine the way the Jerusalem Center was viewed and depicted by its opponents, suggesting how basic geographic concepts such as scale and site further refine the concept of spatial transgression for buildings and urban redevelopment.

Key Words:

• transgression
• Jerusalem
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Mormons

Notes

¹For a more in-depth discussion of the history of the LDS Church in Israel and the Middle East and current LDS views of Israel and its spiritual relationship, see Klatzker (1987), Epperson (1993), Skinner (1994), Peterson (1995), and Charles (1999).

²According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is not just a city containing a collection of holy places and events, but rather, the entire city itself is holy (Benvenisti 1996, 52–53). A long liturgical and scriptural history reinforces this concept of the city (see Psalms 137:56). Therefore, when the borders of Jewish-controlled Jerusalem were expanded after 1967, the former Arab East Jerusalem was also considered to be part of the Holy City. While the loosely defined area of East Jerusalem “carries meanings that are more nationalistic and political than religious,” other names for the city of Jerusalem, such as Holy City and City of Peace, “evoke messianic aspirations of a time to come, or an end of time when a messiah will come, or return, and put things right” (Sharkansky and Auerbach 2000, 396).

³One critic wrote, “Zionism means that Jews were acquiring land from non-Jews, and now we find that Christians are building their institutions by acquiring land from Jews. What a reversal…and if we must give land to Christians, why must it be one of the most prestigious and beautiful locations overlooking the ancient Jewish holy city?” (quoted in Galbraith, Ogden, and Skinner 1996, 459). The BYU Jerusalem Center is visible from nearly all of East Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, the Temple Mount, the American Colony quarter, and the Arab quarters of Wadi el-Joz and Sheikh Jarrah, as well as from high points in West Jerusalem (Ogden 2003).

⁴According to Dumper (2002), the LDS Church was not considered a “traditional” or “historic” church because it had not established a built presence in Jerusalem prior to 1967.

⁵ Friedland and Hecht (1996, 135) argue that the Haredim further used anti-Mormon demonstrations to solicit increased hallukah funds, or funds from Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Jerusalem. Orthodox Jews outside Jerusalem send money to the Haredim living in Jerusalem “to support their performance of commandments to live, study, and pray in the Land of Israel.” The Haredim feel that the most effective way to solicit funds is to appear as fervent defenders of Jerusalem, demonstrating for the legal implementation of Orthodox principles and practices.

⁶The second author spent the 1985–1986 academic year in Israel as a Fulbright lecturer. See also the 1985–1986 Israeli edition of The Jerusalem Post for news reports.

⁷A closer look at the document LDS Church and Brigham Young University officials signed shows that the LDS Church would not proselytize as long as the Jewish people and their government prohibited them from doing so. This implies that if this restriction was ever lifted and Christian groups were allowed to proselytize in Jerusalem, then the LDS Church would proselytize (Ogden 2002).

*The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful suggestions of the two anonymous referees, as well as Ruth Kark, Noga Collins-Kreiner, Chad Emmett, and Kelly Ogden for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeanne Kay Guelke

A professor of geography