In the original dust jacket. Black cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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‘Holy Fire invades the church, a fast-breeding light transfiguring faces, transforming the dark stone space. I hear gasps and cheers and sobs and tears. The emotion is overwhelming, the heat suffocating . . .’

Every Easter the ‘miracle’ of the Holy Fire is enacted in front of hundreds of the faithful in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. For centuries, Orthodox Christian pilgrims have made the arduous journey to witness it: the proof they need that God favours them far above all other Christians, as well as Jews and Muslims. Holy Fire presents the unending battle waged by various denominations of Christian churchmen for their savior’s empty tomb as the microcosm of centuries of wider Christian power struggles. Victoria Clark deftly weaves history, reportage and religion into a fluid and fascinating account that includes the aggressive campaigns of medieval Crusaders, the empire-building of the nineteenth-century European powers, Britain’s decision to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine in 1917, and today’s zealous, though unlikely, champions of Israel’s cause, the Christian Zionists. She explores the contribution that the Christian world has made to the unfolding tragedy of the Holy Land – at a time when it has never been more urgent for the West to see itself as others see it.

Review: The Holy Fire ceremony takes place every Easter Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. As a blatantly staged ‘miracle’ it typifies the rather ugly world that is the Christian presence in Jerusalem.

Victoria Clark presents a comprehensive history of this world by counterpoising two distinct narratives. She describes her own experiences in the company of Jerusalem’s Christians between 2002 and 2004, the years of the Palestinian intifada. This is interspersed with the story, gleaned from copious reading of both published and unpublished material, of the Christian presence in Jerusalem since the early fourth century, when the Emperor Constantine’s mother opened the place as a Christian Theme Park. Sites were ‘discovered’ or invented for every dramatic scene recounted in the Gospels. The place of Christ’s Crucifixion, burial and Resurrection were marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This Church, the focus of pilgrims and of Victoria Clark’s book, has been the scene of strife and political oneupmanship for centuries, principally between the rival Christian sects, Armenian, Greek, Russian, Ethiopian, Coptic and Roman Catholic – and latterly the Anglicans and German Protestants. The most influential group since the late twentieth century has been the Christian Zionists. As Biblical literalists they have dreamed up a narrative for the imminent End of the World. This fantasy drama includes the reestablishment of Israel in all the lands promised to Abraham by God, a mass return of world Jewry and a conversion of one third of them to Christianity when Christ returns. The other two thirds are to be eliminated at the Battle of Armageddon.

The leverage these, largely American, Christian Zionists have with Republican politicians is quite frightening. It is a barrier to Middle East peace. Victoria Clark’s book is a testament to the power of the absurd and fantastic to influence political decisions of global importance. Anyone who thinks that the Israel/Palestine problem can be solved by appealing to reason and compromise, should read this book. It will open their eyes to the dangers of endowing a jumble of ancient, fallible, human writings, and such is the Bible, with a divine, and hence, unchallengeable status.