Peter Ikeda - Essay Reflection

For my paper I wrote about the Holy Sepulchre (located in Jerusalem that encompasses Golgotha, the site of Jesus' crucifixion, and his possible tomb site). I wanted to write about this spiritual place because of my own spirituality as well as further my own knowledge on the significance behind it. In Christianity the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the single-handed most important moment in history because it is the moment that the price of our sins, death, was paid forever in full thus redeeming our souls to fulfill God's plan for us to live eternally with him. The Holy Sepulchre is not only the place where Christ was crucified but also the site where he was buried and rose again, denying the power of death and illustrating his spiritual tie with God. To define the Holy Sepulchre as a sacred place I utilized Lane's fourth axiom which states that "sacred space always possesses a double impulse" basically describing a push and pull affect due to humankind's reliance on fixed points with meaning. Humans rely on a physical embodiment of their faith for security and reassurance and the Holy Sepulchre for Christians offers substantial support for Christ and his death and resurrection. Its 'push' effect comes from the sheer magnitude of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Sepulchre is a place where people can make a pilgrimage and for Christians it would be an experience one would not forget; a life changing experience of great spiritual magnitude. I also exploited the concepts of numen, the idea of a powerful presence attached to an item or place, and genius loci, the spirit of the place where God is met, to support my thesis that the Holy Sepulchre is a sacred place. As a Christian, the site where Christ, the son of God and one and only savior, died and rose again holds great spiritual significance to me.