Today, the discussion about sacred spaces was continued and we delved deeper into what exactly consecrates a sacred space. A sacred space must be founded and then a tradition must be developed in order to make the space sacred. This concept of founding a space where God can be worshipped predates Jerusalem – the Ziggurats and the Babylon Creation Story were given as examples. Such spaces cannot be randomly chosen, but rather Gods are the only ones who are able to dictate where houses of worship are built and give instructions on what to build – require Divine decree. Examples are given from Revelation 21 and other biblical texts.
The lecture continued on to explain how the consecration of sacred spaces is accomplished through their attraction of stories, the reputation of the place, and the borrowed or historical stories of the site. Some of these include Genesis 2 which describes the Garden of Eden, 2 Chronicles 3 and Genesis 22 which explain Mt. Moriah and the story of the Akedah and Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son Isaac. All of these stories further provide evidence of Jerusalem’s holiness and its reputation as the center of the world. This concept of the center of the world is explained through the idea of an axis mundi which serves as a pillar connecting a place on earth and in the real world to that of the profane and divine.
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