The scientific debates on border crossings and cultural exchange between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have much increased over the last decades. Within this context, however, little attention has been given to the biblical Exodus, which not only plays a pivotal role in the Abrahamic religions, but also is a master narrative of a border crossing in itself. Sea and desert are spaces of liminality and transit in more than just a geographical sense. Their passage includes a transition to freedom and initiation into a new divine community, an encounter with God and an entry into the Age of law. The volume gathers twelve articles written by leading specialists in Jewish and Islamic Studies, Theology and Literature, Art and Film history, dedicated to the transitional aspects within the Exodus narrative. Bringing these studies together, the volume takes a double approach, one that is both comparative and intercultural. How do Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts and images read and retell the various border crossings in the Exodus story, and on what levels do they interrelate? By raising these questions the volume aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of contact points between the various traditions.

Jerusalem, in her central role for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, became the setting for - or even the protagonist of - oral, written and pictorial narratives. These range from the Bible and Apocrypha, historical and hagiographical texts and legends to accounts of physical, imaginary or spiritual pilgrimage, and related images. Places in and around the city have been associated with narratives and vice versa. This collection of essays discusses the complex entanglements between Jerusalem, as a continuously redefined space, and her narratives, viewed from broad methodological and interdisciplinary perspectives. Studying the manifold ways in which narrative, space and place interact, is fundamental to the understanding of 'loca sancta traditions' and the processes of their location and translocation. Contributors are Shulamit Laderman, Gustav Kuhnel, Serge Ruzer, George Gagoshidze, Alexei Lidov, Bianca Kuhnel, Ariane Westphalinger, Robert Ousterhout, Eva Frojmovic, Katrin Kogman-Appel, Claudia Olk, Ingrid Baumgartner, Pnina Arad, Annette Hoffmann, Gunnar Mikosch, Barbara Baert, Yamit Rachman-Schrire, Robert Schick, Tim Urban, Mila Horky, Silvan Wagner, Rachel Milstein, Anastasia Keshman and Kai Nonnenmacher.

The scientific debates on border crossings and cultural exchange between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have much increased over the last decades. Within this context, however, little attention has been given to the biblical Exodus, which not only plays a pivotal role in the Abrahamic religions, but also is a master narrative of a border crossing in itself. Sea and desert are spaces of liminality and transit in more than just a geographical sense. Their passage includes a transition to freedom and initiation into a new divine community, an encounter with God and an entry into the Age of law. The volume gathers twelve articles written by leading specialists in Jewish and Islamic Studies, Theology and Literature, Art and Film history, dedicated to the transitional aspects within the Exodus narrative. Bringing these studies together, the volume takes a double approach, one that is both comparative and intercultural. How do Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts and images read and retell the various border crossings in the Exodus story, and on what levels do they interrelate? By raising these questions the volume aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of contact points between the various traditions.