Looking back at chapters eight and nine I was intrigued by the idea of God dwelling in one distinct place. Armstrong touches on this idea frequently as she discusses the destruction of the Temple and the events that followed. She states,
"The Temple had represented the heart of the world's meaning, the core of the faith. Now life had neither value or significance, and it seems that in these dark days many Jews lost their faith. It is not true, as often been asserted, that the Jews had fully outgrown their Temple. Even those Jews who had begun to evolve other ways of experiencing the divine believed that Jerusalem and its sanctuary were central to their religion. Jews would need all their creativity to survive this devastating loss." (pg. 155)
After the Temple had been destroyed people worshiped and observed Shabbat not in a "sacred space" but rather in "consecrated time". The destruction of the temple seemed to redefine in some sense what it meant to interact with the divine. Armstrong then brought up what I think is a very interesting question...
"What had it meant to say that God dwelt in a man-made building? Had he been present nowhere else?"
Did the destruction of the Temple change the way these people thought about the presence of their God? Are the convictions they felt during that time still felt today?
Origen, the Christian scholar states, "It was only pagans who sought God in a shrine and thought that the gods dwelt "in a particular place." (pg. 171)
From a Christian standpoint God no longer dwells in a Temple but in the man of Jesus Christ. But the Jews did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. They do not believe that he is God. Therefore, from a Jewish standpoint, does the presence of God still dwell in the Temple, in a sacred space, as it did in the Old Testament?
I would be interested to know what the class thought about this. Could you worship a God who only dwells in one "sacred" space? Does it make a difference if that space is man-made or not? Does this idea seem foolish or "pagan"?
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I like your questions about the destruction of the Temple changing their views about God, and are those views still felt today. I would LOVE to hear some answers on that too.
ReplyDeleteAs for a "sacred" space...I think that the idea of a certain space holding the "divine" or "sacred" or having the sole purpose of holding those may help in one's beliefs but I personally could not worship any entity that only dwelt within a particular space. I feel that the ideas of the holiness of the Temple is that it was so meant for the "sacred" that although perhaps God could hear all prayers, is everywhere at once, it was a location in this profane world that one could commune and worship God more readily and easily.