Constructions of Space III: Biblical Spatiality and the Sacred

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.

Jorunn Økland, professor of Gender Studies in the Humanities, Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo (formerly Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield). Author of Women in Their Place: Paul and the Corinthian Discourse of Gender and Sanctuary Space (2004).

Laura Quick is Assistant Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies at Princeton University, USA.

J. Cornelis de Vos, PhD (2002) in Theology (Old Testament), is lecturer in New Testament and Judaism at the University of Münster. He has published on land in the Bible and Early Judaism.

Jacqueline Vayntrub is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale University, USA

Karen J. Wenell is Associate Professor of New Testament and Theology at the University of Birmingham, UK.