Hi Tad,


I am familiar with Mircea Eliade's idea of the sacred center. The ancestor pole is one such center. It evolves into the temple in more complex societies. Jesus offered himself as the center, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The cross is the axis mundi for Christians connecting each believer to God. It is portable and does not need a fixed place. In one's faith, one is always at the center , wherever one goes. A more portable faith comes with the destruction of the sacred center, as happened with the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The unintended consequence of such destruction is that it freed the faith to travel, which would allow for wide dissemination. Also, the faith is no longer tied to land or territory. "My kingdom is not of this earth!" The faith is no longer bound and in service to one people, or earthbound government.


Nort