Theology and religion

Brown also talks about another function of walls in the past. In medieval times, walls of temples were used to section off some space as “sacred.” Just as national boundaries designate that this land belongs to this country and that land belongs to another country, religious walls indicated that some land was worldly and some land was holy. Walls thus serve a theological function in addition to a political one. They make some space seem imbued with a special, extra-worldly power. A sense of awe results from this. Part of the function of modern walls, similarly, is to re-create a sense of awe. This is why walls have to be physical even if the threats they often try to contain are invisible, like viruses or the exchange of money. The physical nature of the wall makes it possible for people to develop a sense of awe and respect for what they contain.