Identity theories have emphasised that the construction of an identity follows abstract and universal processes but is also deeply grounded in specific cultural and material environments. This volume explores how groups in Late Antiquity rooted their identity in places that were imbued with meanings derived from history and tradition. Part I explores the tension between the Classical heritage in public, urban spaces and the Church's appropriation of that space. Parts II and III investigate how particular locations expressed, and formed, the theological and social identities of Christian and Jewish groups by bringing together fresh insights from the archaeological and textual evidence.

Juliette Day is University Lecturer and Docent in Church History at the University of Helsinki and Senior Research Fellow in Christian History at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford.

Raimo Hakola, Th.D. (2003), is an Academy Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology. His latest publication is Reconsidering Johannine Christianity: A Social Identity Approach.

Maijastina Kahlos, Ph.D. (1998), University of Helsinki, has published Debate and Dialogue: Christian and Pagan Cultures, c. 380-430 and Forbearance and Compulsion: Rhetoric of Tolerance and Intolerance in Late Antiquity.

Ulla Tervahauta is post-doctoral researcher in the Center of Excellence in Reason and Religious Recognition, at the University of Helsinki. Her publications include A Story of the Soul's Journey in the Nag Hammadi Library. A Study of Authentikos Logos (NHC VI,3).

Introduction, Day, Hakola, Kahlos and Tervahauta / Part I Cultural Perspectives: Meddling in the middle? Urban celebrations, ecclesiastical leaders and the Roman emperor in late Antiquity, Kahlos / Classical culture, domestic space and imperial vision in the Cycle of Agathias, Smith / Monastic space: the ascetic between sacred and civil spheres in Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Westergren / Part II Theological perspectives: Seeing Christ at the holy places, Day / Sacred space, virginal consecration and symbolic power: a liturgical innovation and its implications in late ancient Christianity, Hunter / The City of God and the place of demons: city life and demonology in early Christianity, Salminen / Preaching, feasting and making space for a meaning, Tolonen / Part III Archaeological Perspectives: Galilean Jews and Christians in context: spaces shared and contested in the eastern Galilee in late Antiquity, Hakola / Performing the sacred in a community building: observations from the 2010-2015 Kinneret regional project excavations in the Byzantine synagogue of Horvat Kur (Galilee), Zangenberg / Thrown into limekilns: the reuse of statuary and architecture in Galilee from late Antiquity onwards, Bonnie.