Equally important are the avenues of fur-ther study that McDantiell suggests in thebook's conclusion: exces.s in ritual anddecoration as failh expression in the UnitedStates; the use of food in maintaining soli-darity and celebrating economic and spiri-tual abundance; an exploration of the mate-rial cultures of American Jews, Buddhists,Muslims and Native Americans. McDan-nelTs book is an excellent resource forscholars of religion interested in materialChristianity, for sociologists and anthro-pologists exploring the wider field of mate-rial culture and religious practice and forspecialists in women's studies concernedwith the gendering of religious practices inthe United States.

KATHLEEN S. NASH

Woody Allen:Sacred and ProfaneBy Richard A. Blake. S.J.Scarecrow Press. 235p $45

As Richard A. Blake, S.J.. concedes in histhorough, often acute scan of WoodyAllen's cinematic career, writing now aboutthe film maker's theological perspective isproblematical at best. Though not convictedof being a child-molester, Allen hasL'merged from press wars over his affairwith Mia Farrow's adopted daughter morethan a bit tarnished. But, as Blake rightlydecides, although "the films carry thefreight of autobiographical references, stillthey stand on their own merits apart fromthe life of the artist."

This is especially refreshing comingfrom a Jesuit scholar whose two previousstudies {The Lutheran Milieu of ¡ngmar¡ier^mait'.s Films and Screening America:Reflections on Five Classic Films) haveadamantly pursued religious subtexts. Inboth his preface and sweeping introductionto Woody Allen: Sacred and Profane (thesubtitle alludes to Mircea Eliade's distinc-tion between the "two modes of being inthe world"), Blake is careful to stress thathis mission or thesis, "a religious dialoguewith Woody Allen's films," is meant toenlarge, not restrict our ultimate apprecia-tion of the iatter's content.

Blake, in fact, is well aware that most"films are resolutely secularist enterpris-es." He is equally cognizant of his sub-ject's self-proclaimed agnosticism and cau-tions that Jewishness forms "no part of myartistic consciousness." But Blake theo-rizes that the philosophic and theological

concems of Judaism are actually treated byAllen ''with extreme seriousness," comicor otherwise. He cites "Annie Hall" (1977)and "Hannah and Her Sislers" (1986) fortheir references to the Holocaust and con-cem over a Jewish anxiety-ridden outsiderstatus, which supposedly trigger funda-mental theological questions about theDeity and free will.

Certainly Allen's history as a screen-writer has seen him retum again and againto wrestle with the ethical plight of how tolive a decent life in a vicious universe with-out meaning or human scale, subject alwaysto the existential Angst Freud posited asintrinsic to the human condition. Blakeexperiences little difficulty in limning theobsessive Ahab hunt for a godhead amid thesexual and relational confusion of modemtimes that surges beneath so many Allenfilms.

Blake's approach throughout is chrono-logical, which imposes a necessarily rigidthematic grid when he also groups the filmsby type, moving from Cartoons throughRomances and Experiments to Interludesand Moral Fables (covering all of Allen'srecent efforts before "Bullets Over Broad-way" [1994]). The classification system iscrudely persuasive, however, except tor theInterludes cop-out, as is the focus on Allen'snerdy, neurotic screen persona, his wise-cracking quest for genuine love and philo-sophic validation under the harpoon prod ofinescapable oblivion.

In concert with other critics, Blake sees abasic, pemianent shift occurring in "AnnieHall," where the protagonist. Alvy Singei'.is more closely identified with his author.and for "good or ill, autobiography willremain inextricably tied into the subsequentfilms." He also argues thai the Allen hero of"Sleeper" (1973), the last of the Cartoonfilms, evinces signs of positive spiritualgrowth, despite his denial of any belief inscience, politics or God, because he hasraised the possibility of putting one's faithin life and love. More important, hisactions^—opposing the Dictator and riskinghis life for his beloved—undercut his cyni-cal humor,

From here, Blake fmds it an easy glideinto the covert sermon being delivered by theRomances, which he concedes overtly locatesalvation in arl itself, even in "Interiors"(1978), where tragedy rules the Bergman-feathered roost. The message, admittedlyfragmented, is simple and uplifting enoughfor a television evangelist to embrace: Self-sacrifice defines the essence of love.

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According to Blake, the sacrifice is evidentnot only in "Sleeper" and "Annie Hall," butin "Manhattan" (1979) and "BroadwayDanny Rose" (1994) as well.

Blake is correct in probing the significantcontradictions between comic denials andplot progression. He conducts a brilliantautopsy on "Zelig," one of the Experiments,as the start of "a systematic exploration ofart...as a means of reshaping the world intoa more congenial arena of human activity."It steers Biake away from the pathologicaldynamic that drives Allen's cinematic imag-ination and has conversely (and perversely)prevented him from achieving the kind ofitrlistic depth he desires.

EDWARD BUTSCHER

Jerusalem:An Archaeological BiographyBy Hershel ShanksRandom House. 256p $45

Jerusalem:The Endless CrusadeBy Andrew SinclairCrown Books. 295p $24

Since its conquest by David and the con-struction of the First Temple by Solomon,Jerusalem has been the holy city of Judaism,the place where Jesus spent the fmal weeksof his ministry, where he was crucified,buried and rose from the dead. Jerusalem hasa special importance for Christians. ForMoslems, Jerusalem is the terminus of theprophet Mohammed's Night Joumey, faimwhich he ascended to Seventh Heaven. Thus,Jerusalem, central to the three great biblicalfaiths, is never far from the consciousness,thoughts and prayers of Jews, Christians andMoslems and is often the object of their polit-ical and territorial aspirations.

Recognition of Jerusalem's place in thesereligions has been heightened by the peacetalks between Arabs and Israelis, which mustultimately decide the political status of thecity. In the United States, conflicting claimsfor Jerusalem have been further heightenedby recent discussions in Congress concerningthe possible move there of the U.S. Embassyto Israel, cunently located in Tel Aviv. Espe-cially in the Jewish community, interest inJerusalem's history promises to continue togrow throughout the current year, with 1996designated as a year of commemoration ofthe 3,000th anniversary of King David's con-quest of the city. Jerusalem and recent politi-

cal events are bringing that city and its enig-matic history into the center of contemporaryconscience.

Two recent book.s address the questionsof how we are to grasp Jerusalem's signifi-cance within the three biblical religionsand how we are to understand the extent towhich the "City of Peace" has been theobject of fighting for over 3,000 years.Hershel Shanks' Jerusalem: Ati Archae-ological Biography u.ses archeological evi-dence to uncover the cultural and spirituallife of the eity, with special attention toevents and locales of interest to Jews,Christians and Moslems. In Jerusalem:The Endless Crusade. Andrew Sinclairdepicts the history of political turmoilcaused by Jewish, Christian and Islamicaspirations to control the city. He asks howthe religious conceptions of Jerusalem thatemerge within these religions have led toan "endless crusade" for sovereignty overit. Both books offer important insights intothe earthly Jerusalem, insights that emergeultimately from the authors' depiction ofhow this eity has inspired images of aheavenly one, one so significant in theolo-gy and spirituality.

While Shanks begins with the city'sfounding about 3,5(X) B.C.E., his main focusis the period from David's conquest, aboutl.OOO B.C.E., to the second Jewish revoltagainst Rome in 133-35 C.E. Little is knovmof the period before David, and Shanks cov-ers Byzantine, Moslem and Crusader Jeru-siilem only brietly^—1,2(K) years in 20 pages.The body of the book, however, offers a pen-etrating glimp.se of the culture, everyday lifeand political turmoil of the several agesdescribed in detail: images of fertility fig-urines from the First Temple period, the heelof a crucified first-century Jewish rebel (thenail still in it) and reconstructions of the artand architecture of Jerusalem's homes andbuildings, ranging from the JerusalemTemple to the Holy Sepulcher.

The reader benefits from Shanks' presen-tation of the range of scholarly views on themany debated aspects of Jerusalem's history.Shanks makes no explicit judgment on thequestion of whether or nol David's futuregeneral Joab might have captured Jerusalemby climbing up the water conduit, nowknown as Warren's Shaft (see 2 Sam. 5:8and 1 Chron. 11:6). Still. Shanks maintainsthat Scripture and other ancient writings con-tain an accurate historical core and that thescholar's job is to sift out what is true and touse it in conjunction with the material evi-dence uncovered by archeology.

In keeping with this approach. Shanksemphasizes interpretations of archeologiealremains that associate them with the evi-dence provided in biblical or other texts.An interesting example is the questiondebated by scholars whether a tomb(referred to as Tl ) in the area of the originalCity of David is, in fact, the tomb of KingDavid. "The case has not been madebeyond a reasonable doubt that Tl is thetomb of King David, or even that it is aroyal tomb of the House of David," Shankswrites. "But it does remain a reasonable—and tantalizing—possibility. And no onehas come up with another satisfactoryexplanation for these unusual installations,located right where the Bible says the earlyKings of Israel were buried. If they are nottombs, what are they?"

Since there is no firm jusllfication formaking a connection to King David. Shanks'word "tantalizing" is hardly probative. But heseems to find such connections too tantaliz-ing to be denied and so, while presenting allsides of the question, his own judgment gen-erally is to confinn such associations.

Yet Shanks is careful to evaluate the evi-dence on both sides of each question and toinstruct the reader regarding any disputedreconstruction. His book, therefore, is agood entry point for readers interested inseeing just how much light archeology hasshed on the city's history.

Andrew Sinclair's Jerusalem: The Eter-nal Crusade presents a narrative history ofthe city from the time of David to the pre-sent illustrating how the conflicting claimsupon Jerusalem that arose out of Jewish,Christian and Moslem history and theologyled to a continual struggle for control over acity that, more than any place on earth,came to represent not a physical locality,but "a concept and a faith and a state ofmind." Where Shanks preserves the uncer-tainties and constantly makes clear theextent to which the writing of Jerusalem'shistory is an exercise in historical judgment,Sinclair pushes ahead, year by year, con-quest by conquest, without stopping toquestion the foundations of the historicaljudgments that lie at the heart of his pre.sen-tation. His abbreviated review of the litera-ture used in each chapter, found at the endof the book, does not sufficiently help mat-ters. These faults aside, the book is readableand engaging, a coneise picture of the3,(X)0-year history of the city to whieh thethree biblical faiths have turned for theirimage of a city of God on earth.

ALANj.AVERY-PECK

28 AMERICA AUGUST 3, 1996