Constructions of Space III Biblical Spatiality and the Sacred

Constructions of Space IIIengages 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, 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.

Karen Wenell is Lecturer in New Testament and Theology at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Introduction - Okland, de Vos and WenellPart I: Old TestamentChapter 1: Egypt as a Space of Fear and a Space of Hope - Dr. Roland BoerChapter 2: Jeremiah and the City: The Fortified Prophet of Jerusalem - Dr. Mark BrummittChapter 3: The Size of the Sacred - Dr. John BerquistChapter 4: A Safer Space: Genesis as a Prologue to Holiness and Divine Jealousy - Prof. Stuart LasineChapter 5: Mythical Time and Mythical Space: Creation and Salvation in Jerusalem - Prof. Dr. Klaus BiebersteinChapter 6: The 'Threshing Floor' as Sacred Space in the Hebrew Bible: A Spatial and Anthropological Perspective - Dr. Tamara ProsicPart II: New TestamentChapter 7: Lukan Narrative Spatiality in Transition: A Reading of Acts 11:19-12:25 for Its Spaces - Dr. Matthew SleemanChapter 8: 'The Kingdom' as Sacred and Social Space of the Future - Dr. Karen WenellChapter 9: Hebrews 3.7-4.11 and the Pragmatic Function of Mental Maps - Dr. J. Cornelis de VosChapter 10: Jesus, John and the Wilderness - Prof. Halvor MoxnesChapter 11: Carnelian and Caryatids: Sacred Space in the Apocalypse of John - Prof. Jorunn OklandPart III: MediationsChapter 12: Travelling through Landscape - Dr. Pernille CarstensChapter 13: The Bible and Liturgical Space - Prof. David Jasper