A Quick Thought on Spatial Metaphors for Heaven
We are used to thinking of 'heaven' (i.e., God's space) as 'up'. That is certainly an important spatial metaphor used in the Bible and the tradition.
I am interested in work by various biblical scholars that has shown that the temple in ancient Israel was seen as a microcosm of the created order. The temple, so biblical scholars tell us, was creation-in-miniature. In this model the central part of the temple - the most holy place - represented the heavenly realms.
What is interesting is that the spatial image here is not of the heavens 'above' but as the heavens 'within' - the spiritual depth dimensions of creation. The hearts of the world.
I'm not suggesting that heaven is 'within' rather than 'above'. I'm suggesting that both metaphors are helpful and the presence of both warns us not to take the language over-literally.
The image of heaven as 'the depth dimensions of creation' is an interesting and suggestive way of thinking of the heavenly realms.
I am interested in work by various biblical scholars that has shown that the temple in ancient Israel was seen as a microcosm of the created order. The temple, so biblical scholars tell us, was creation-in-miniature. In this model the central part of the temple - the most holy place - represented the heavenly realms.
What is interesting is that the spatial image here is not of the heavens 'above' but as the heavens 'within' - the spiritual depth dimensions of creation. The hearts of the world.
I'm not suggesting that heaven is 'within' rather than 'above'. I'm suggesting that both metaphors are helpful and the presence of both warns us not to take the language over-literally.
The image of heaven as 'the depth dimensions of creation' is an interesting and suggestive way of thinking of the heavenly realms.
Comments
The quickest way to answer that question (and I'm afraid that I do only have time to be quick) is to point to chapter 2 of Greg Beale's book "The Temple and the Church's Mission". The chapter itself has a lot of helpful material on the theme of 'temple and cosmos' but you will see that he is interescting with a bunch of the other scholars that I had in mind.