A Battle of Words: Petre Chiricuță’s Reply (1926) to A. C. Cuza’s Religious Antisemitism (1925)

The present paper aims to explore the arguments that Father Chiricuţă uses against the idea of a “Christian” anti-Semitism by proving the fundamental mismatch between Christianity and anti-Semitism and, thus, proving that “Christian” anti-Semitism is a heresy, perhaps even the greatest of the century. According to his testimony, he embarks on this intellectual adventure primarily as a duty of conscience as priest and as truth-lover.**

Jerusalem in Motion. Images of Jerusalem in the Bible and Beyond

The biblical image of Jerusalem is constructed from a diversity of themes, which capture various dimensions of the holy city. The article presents the most recurrent and signi"cant literary themes used in the Bible for referring to Jerusalem, organized on three levels: the concrete, the humane and the divine. The image of Jerusalem accumulates references to its geographical dimension, as a territorial border and center of the world, to its political and social dimension, as a capital city and military defense, and to its spiritual dimension, as a reference point in the relation between humans and God. These biblical themes stood as reference points in later developments of Jerusalem’s image in the Christian tradition and in European representations of the holy city.

The Church on the Hill in Schäßburg/Sighişoara. A Jewel of Architecture and Art-History on a Marginal Spiritual-Liturgical Existence

The Evangelical Church C. A. in Romania has an impressive treasure trove of churches of cultural and art-historical value in Transylvania. One of the most important sacred buildings is the Church on the Hill in Schäßburg/Sighisoara. But although it is a liturgically important space, it has served other purposes over and over again in the course of history. The fact that the Evangelical community became very small after 1989 brought with it the challenge of using this place of worship adequately. In the last few decades – i with the inclusion of the old town of Schäßburg on the list of UNESCO as a World Heritage Site – the Church on the Hill has become a tourist magnet. Culture lovers can listen to contemplative organ concerts. Due to the epidemiological situation, it now serves more and more liturgical purposes.

The Sacred Disguised: An Instance of the Double Use of Space by Japan’s Hidden Christians

Christianity arrived on the island of Shikoku, Japan, from the neighboring island of Kyushu in the mid-sixteenth century, an event commemorated by a signboard and gravesite where some of the early converts to the faith were buried. The sancti"ed area exhibits what might be expected of Hidden Christian spatiality: a quasi-Buddhist nature, syncretistic Shinto elements, and o#ertory tools; each of which would be quite out of place in any other “Christian” context. What may the sacrality of this ground have entailed? What signi"cance did its objects contain for those who created them and visited them? Moreover, how “ecumenical” could worship there have been if one half (the Christian) was for political reasons forcibly kept hidden while the other half (Buddhist/Shinto) was open? These are the questions we pursue, although our conclusions can perhaps do no more than indicate a direction.

Egeria’s Itinerarium and the Development of Sacred Spaces and Edifices in Jerusalem

A Christian pilgrim, Egeria, travelled to Jerusalem and other biblical sites in the 380s and wrote detailed notes about the places she visited and about the liturgical life in Jerusalem. In this article, I will scrutinize Egeria’s view on the holy edi!ces and sacred spaces in Jerusalem, giving special attention to why some places were holy for her; and how Christians related to the holy places of “others,” that is, of pagans and Jews. For Egeria, several factors together made a space holy and worth visiting: biblical events that had occurred there, liturgical celebrations in her own day, and the physical seeing of the place as well as meeting of the holy people living at the site. "e new sacred topography expressed both continuity and discontinuity with the Old Testament times, but the Roman pagan dominance in Jerusalem was moved to the past.

Temple and Paradise. Some Remarks on the Dynamics of Sacred Place

In ancient eastern literature, the creation of the world could be connected to the building of the temple dedicated to the creator deity. Creation and temple-building represented for the ancient mentality an obvious continuity that legitimized the cult itself. A further connection could be drawn between the primeval world and the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. The present paper analyzes the intertwining elements of the temple on the holy mountain and the garden of paradise, the original place of pleasure in the presence of God, taking into account the primeval stories of Ezekiel and Genesis. Some elements of the biblical stories will be discussed as part of the history of traditions. For studying the concept of paradise, the "rst chapters of the Hebrew Bible are for now to be skipped, because, as it will be assumed, earlier accounts are found in the book of Ezekiel.