Sacred Space under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches

Abstract

This essay examines the nature of Jewish and Christian religious spaces in the immediate post-Temple era by analyzing artistic iconography and by contextualizing synagogue and church rituals. The article traces the liturgical metamorphosis and circuitous route of chancel screens from the Temple mount to the church to the synagogue, illuminating the question of sanctity in ancient synagogues. Synagogue space does not stand in a simple relationship to the destroyed Temple. Rather, the enactment of Jewish rituals suggests willed ambiguity in the relationship of the synagogue to the Temple, manifested by oscillating spatial definitions and indeterminate liturgical associations.