Landscapes of the Sacred reflection 3- Erin Comerford

In Chapter 2 of Lane's Landscapes of the Sacred, he writes about the difference between topos and chora as place. Topos is "a mere location, a measurable, quantifiable point" and chora "carries its own energy and power, summoning its participants to a common dance, to the choreography most appropriate to their life together". Topos and Chora are both greek words meaning place. Each word carries its own connotation though. The way chora is defined allows for a deeper connection to that place. A place simply described as topos doesn't leave much room for interpretation or discussion; the place is simply the place. Lane offers three different ways of studying and understanding sacred place as chora, not topos. These three ways are the ontological approach, the cultural approach, and the phenomenological approach. In order to understand sacred place as chora, all three of these approaches need to be understood. The ontological approach sees sacred place as radically set apart from everything profane, it is a site recognized as manifesting its own inherent, chthonic power and numinosity. This approach focuses on specific sacredness of the place without any connection to the place itself. The Cultural approach looks at sacred place as something that the society has constructed, so this focuses on the people of the sacred place. Finally the phenomenological approach is seeing sacred place in the place itself and only the place. So this approach focuses on the physical place that is sacred. Understanding sacred place as something that is chora rather than topos takes a full understanding of all three approaches because each has a little bit to offer to the others. Connecting the three approaches makes chora something that is out-of-this-world sacred, people in that place and the place itself.