Author Description

"Constructions of Space III engages space both as focus in the texts under discussion, but also as analytical perspective. It explores more specifically how the Bible does not contain one, or even several, notions of sacred/holy space, even if there are undoubtedly many spaces described as such. It rather tries to trace how the discourses of space and those of the sacred intersect and interact in various writings of the Bible, more like points in a diagram, resulting in highly different ways of conceptualizing the sacred. A spatial-critical perspective can help us better understand how the relationship between notions of holiness and of space was a more dynamic one; as notions of space changed, so notions of holiness changed, and vice versa. Such a perspective also opens up further questions such as how the Temple's periphery is constructed, and how a human being can move and orient him- or herself in such a space over-loaded with meaning."--Bloomsbury Publishing Constructions of Space III engages with the great variety of sacred spaces set out and given meaning in the texts of the Hebrew Bible, early Jewish literature and the New Testament. Spatial-critical, as well as anthropological, philosophical and narrative perspectives are interacted with in creative ways and brought to bear on the spaces encountered within the texts. Among the concepts and themes explored are oppositional aspects such as holiness and danger/the profane, fear and hope, utopia and dystopia, and purity and impurity. The social and mythological significance of more 'grounded' places such as Jerusalem and Egypt, temples, burial places and threshing floors is considered alongside more ethereal and symbolic spaces like those of heaven, the last judgement and the kingdom of God. What emerges is a dynamic and lively set of perspectives that illuminates relationships between texts, spaces and communities