Jesus Christ is God made man. From the height of the heavens, he descended upon earth, in a specific time and place. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, grew up in Nazareth of Galilee, and lived in Capernaum along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He walked to towns in Lebanon, in Syria, in Galilee, in the Decapolis, in Samaria, in Judea, and finally died on the cross in Jerusalem outside of the city walls. He entered into human history, and walked with us along the streets of our towns. When God intervenes in human history, he intervenes at specific times and in specific places. Salvation history is linked to human history and to human geography. This project aims to map out all those places that have been touched in some way by the grace of God. Whether they are places where Jesus walked, or where biblical episodes took place, or where saints gave witness to the Gospel, or where human expressions of faith through art and beauty sing the glories of God... This project aims, among other things, to show how Christianity has spread to the ends of the earth, according to the invitation that Jesus made to his apostles before ascending into heaven:
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
and
"You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Since this is most certainly going to be an almost continuing work in progress, having a repository makes it easier to keep track of versioning. It also makes it easier to translate and internationalize the contents. It also makes it easier to allow others to collaborate in the project, if they so desire.
This repository can function to some extent as the data layer for applications and visualizations of the data, such as https://github.com/opera-romana-pellegrinaggi/geography-of-the-faith .