Mount Sacred

THE AUTHORJon Mathieu is Editor-in- Chief of thejournal histories and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Lucerne. He has written extensively on the history of mountain regions. The Third Dimension: A Comparative History of Mountains in the Modern Era was published in English by the White Horse Press in 2011.

• NEW FROM THE WHITE HORSE PRESSMount Sacred. A Brief Global History of Holy Mountains Since 1500. Jon Mathieu.'There are mountains beyond the mountains'Chinese sayingMount Kailash in Asia, the Black Hills in North America, Uluru in Australia: around the globe there are numerous mountains that have been and continue to be attributed sacredness. Worship of these mountains involves prayer, meditation and pilgrimage. Christianity, which for a long time showed little interest in nature, provides a foil to these practices and was one factor in the tensions that arose in the age of colonialism. Decolonisation and the 'ecological turn' changed the religious power of interpretation and gave discourses about sacred mountains new meaning. Globally, however, they remain an outstanding example of cultural diversity, also touching on issues of gender justice and environmental protection. A translation from the original German.CONTENTS1. How Does a Sacred Mountain Come into Being? 2. A World between Faith and Knowledge3. Mount Kailash - Model Mountain of Holiness4. Tai Shan - the Imperial Eastern Mountain5. Paektusan - Sacred Mountain of the Revolution 6. Rise of the Christian Crosses7. The Redeemer in the Italian Mountains8. Six Grandfathers and Other American Mountains 9. Volcanoes on the East African Rift Valley10. An Inselberg in the Australian Desert 11. What Future for Sacred Mountains?