Long before Moses met God at the "burning bush" there already existed the idea of sacred places and sacred objects. Entwined in the primitive mind of man was the idea that objects of great power such as the sun, the moon, and the stars were Gods - hence to be worshipped. The Hebrew religion was somewhat different from that of its contemporaries in that its worship was centered on an invisible God beyond the reach of the physical universe. Did God actually inhabit the holy ground of altars and temples, or was there another explanation for this idea? And where do you draw the line between fetishism and the divine?

Richard O. Govier (1928-2018) was a Protestant pastor and missionary and travelled the world in that capacity. He planted a number of churches as well as training pastors who served in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and across the United States.