Heaven and Earth in the Middle Ages: the physical world before Columbus

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (01) ◽  
pp. 35-0259-35-0259
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
The Middle Ages

Religious History

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Sizgorich
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
The Middle Ages

This chapter explains how the characteristics that defined ‘religious history’ during the closing centuries of antiquity and the opening centuries of the Middle Ages are the following: religious history orders discursive recollection of events involving human actors and institutions in accordance with certain grand narratives that are themselves derived from holy texts; religious history regularly locates the foundational truths upon which historical interpretation is grounded beyond the observable, physical world, and within a system of reality that is accessible and knowable only through revelatory contact with the divine; and religious history is most often particularly concerned with locating moments in the past in which human individuals, communities, and institutions were touched and altered by encounters with the numinous.

scholarly journals Between Heaven and Earth: Places of Worship in Egypt and Syria through the Mirror of Visual Evidence

Arts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Rachel Sarfati
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Garden Of Eden ◽  
Visual Evidence ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Middle Ages

In the villages Dammūh, near Fustֿׅatׅ, and Jobar, near Damascus, there were places of worship dedicated to Moses and Elijah which were part of central pilgrimage sites. This article will propose a depiction of the architecture and interiors of these places based on visual and literary sources from the Middle Ages. In addition to the realistic aspect, this article will suggest that the unique design of the reviewed illustrations expressed the prevalent belief that when the Temple was destroyed, the Shekhinah was exiled to the holy sites in Dammūh and Jobar. According to a common tradition, these places are located between heaven and earth, and he who prays in them feels like he is in the Garden of Eden.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document