Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Spaces for the Sacred: Place, Memory, and Identity,
Philip Sheldrake, John Hopkins/SCM, 2001, page 13

Another section on, Sheldrake expands on what a place might be:

Place involves 'a specific landscape, a set of social activities and webs of meaning and rituals, all inseperably intertwined' (Julian Thomas, "Time Culture and Identity", Routledge, p. 87). Places are inherenty associated with the events that happen in landscapes.

So, clearly, not just a physical location, although location is one component of the mix. But is it the most important - surely time is important too.

Human memories, whether individual or collective, are so often localised in landscapes even when people cannot precisely remember when they happened in time or how long they lasted.

So, 'no', time is not a key factor. The people, relationships, activities and what it meant are all more important than time. Does this help us with our understanding of G-d's story and the biblical narratives?