Christianity and Jerusalem

It is interesting to read about how the concept of Jerusalem played into the rise of early Christianity.  In the beginning, the city of Jerusalem was not important at all to the Christians.  Jerusalem was not longer what it once was and had been completely taken over by the Roman Empire.  The concept of 'Holy Jerusalem' became something that was not on this earth.  Physical sites were not of importance to the early Christians, and they even saw the destruction of Jerusalem as justification of their beliefs.  

However, with the intrest of Constantine in Christianity, changes began to happen.  Under his support, the Council of Nicene gathered to discuss the nature of Jesus Christ.  The council was made up of the prominent religous leaders and scholars at the time and they worked to unify how they perceive the holy nature of Christ.  While the book mentions that some members of the council, regardless of if they signed the creed or not, continued to preach their personal viewpoint.  I feel like this is still a monumental event in the history of Christian doctrine.  The statements made in this council did have an impact on Christian theology and on the process of bringing the Bible together.  

 It was under Constantine that there was a revival in remembering and visiting sacred landmarks.  He supported the project to unearth the tomb that Jesus was said to have resurrected from, as well as honoring sacred places like Bethlehem.   Honoring these sacred places and stressing the importance of the place along with the event that took place there was going against what Christians said they did not need.  They had been proud that they did not depend on shrines or holy places.  However, with the discovery of this tomb, the book marks a change in this point of view.  Suddenly, holy places were an important part of the religious experience.  I like the quote on page 183, that writes, 

'It is never safe to assume that we have outgrown these primal myths: even in the secular, scientific world of the 20th century, we are not immune to their appeal, as we can see in Jerusalem today'.  

Throughout this book we have read how now both Jews and Christians have balanced the importance of sacred geography with the idea of being able to create sacred space anywhere.  In the conflict over Jerusalem we see today, has a lot to do with how people view the relevance of physical locations to the ability to practice their religion   

I am not sure if this book will touch on the establishment of the Vatican City, but through reading about sacred geography, I think it would be interesting to see if the Vatican City can be compared to Jerusalem.