A primer on the practice of praying facing Eastward, going through the Jewish tradition, the Scriptures, and archaeological evidence. She does make a mistake when she says St. Peter's Basilica does not face East. It certainly does. After listening to this one understands just how important and rooted in tradition orientation is.
I'll have to listen to this. In Edersheim's "The Temple", he mentions that worship in the Temple was done "ad occidentem" for two reasons:
ReplyDelete1 - because Paradise had been closed off
2 - because heathens prayed ad orientem and they did not want to be associated with sun worship