Physical and symbolic geography: Constructions of space and early christian identities

Abstract

A link with a homeland, whether physical or symbolic, is often seen as characteristic of ethnic groups, and a contrast is therefore commonly drawn between Jewish ethnic particularism, tied to a particular land, and Christian universalism, that has no such territorial connections. After briefly outlining some examples, particularly from Philo and Josephus, that illustrate the diversity of Jewish perspectives on homeland, the focus turns to the construction of space and geographical ideology in two New Testament authors: Paul and Hebrews. Here we find topocentric constructions of space that give Jerusalem a central place, and indicate ongoing “symbolic attachment” to this “homeland.”