The Heart Yearned for Jerusalem

The polymath theologian and orientalist Gustaf Dalman founded the institute that today bears his name in 1920 at Greifswald University. This book documents the collection of papers that were presented at an international and interreligious conference held at the Alfried Krupp Institute for Advanced Studies at Greifswald to celebrate the Gustaf Dalman Institute’s 100th anniversary–after two years of yearning. While, and precisely because, the cultural and religious heritage of the Southern Levant can no longer be researched as it was in the institute’s early days, this centenary offers a welcome opportunity to acknowledge, and critically assess, Dalman’s groundbreaking studies. Different contributions in this volume, written by internationally renowned experts in the field, provide an encyclopedic overview of Dalman’s interests and diverse and comprehensive fields of scholarship. Generally speaking, the proceedings present five thematic threads to navigate through Dalman’s fields: Epigraphic, archaeological and architectural investigations to Jerusalem, Dalman’s examination of the natural world in the Southern Levant, scripture and language studies, Dalman’s idea of photographing the "Holy Land" and Dalman’s legacy.