Edinburgh Research Archive logo

Edinburgh Research Archive

University of Edinburgh homecrest
View Item 
  •   ERA Home
  • Divinity, School of
  • Divinity thesis and dissertation collection
  • View Item
  •   ERA Home
  • Divinity, School of
  • Divinity thesis and dissertation collection
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Production of Christian sacred space in fourth century Jerusalem (335 – 385 CE)

View/Open
SmithN_2022.pdf (4.257Mb)
Date
21/06/2022
Author
Smith, Natalie
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The increased Christian interest in sacred space during late antiquity has been understood as a shift from a more spiritualised practice in early Christianity (the ‘Utopian’) towards a more place-based form of devotion (the ‘Locative’). This transition is acutely apparent in the case of Jerusalem. During the fourth century, in the wake of imperial investment, the city gained unprecedented theological and liturgical importance. However, its development complicated – perhaps even supplanted - the significance of the heavenly Jerusalem ‘above’ that predominated in early Christianity. In this study, I revisit this development with a renewed emphasis on spatiality. By employing terminology and methodology from the works of Jonathan Z. Smith, Henri Lefebvre and Edward Soja, I examine the interrelationship between urban and theological change in fourth century Jerusalem. The first part of this thesis establishes the wider spatial and historical background of Jerusalem from 70 to 385 CE. Then, focusing on the half century after the construction and dedication of a church on Golgotha (335—385 CE), I trace the physical and ideological trajectories of its major religious spaces: Golgotha, Mount Zion, the Mount of Olives, and the Temple Mount. To this end, I highlight the impact of liturgical engagement with the sacred spaces of the Golgotha church in the Catechetical Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem and the later Mystagogical Catecheses. I then consider the subsequent development of Mount Zion in the context of ecclesiastical advancement and the re-assertion of apostolic origins between the ecumenical councils of Nicaea (325 CE) and Constantinople (381 CE). Thirdly, I highlight the conceptual expansion of Jerusalem through the monastic development and integration of the Mount of Olives. Lastly, I investigate the processes of inversion and erasure at work in Christian representations of the Temple Mount before and after the reign of Julian. The third and final part of this study examines the two accounts of Christian pilgrimage, which effectively bookend this period - the Bordeaux Itinerary and the Itinerary of Egeria - as forms of spatial practice. I examine the degree to which accounts of pilgrimage attest to the significance of Jerusalem, while also composing and conveying sacred topography from the pilgrim’s own perspective to a far-off audience. In conclusion, I revisit the transition from the Utopian to Locative in the case of fourth century Jerusalem. Rather than a discrete transition, I adopt a third possibility: that the real and invisible, earthly and heavenly, historical and eschatological remained intermingled in the Jerusalem of late-antique Christian thought, practice, and place.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1842/39159

http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/2410
Collections
  • Divinity thesis and dissertation collection

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page

 

 

All of ERACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisorsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisors
LoginRegister

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page