templecentric

Templecentric, often written as temple-centric or temple centered, is an adjective used to describe approaches, practices, or systems that place temples at the center or focal point of religious life, urban design, or cultural organization. The term is not a fixed technical label; its meaning varies across disciplines but generally conveys centering around the temple as a source of authority, ritual activity, or social life.

In religious contexts, a temple-centric framework locates religious authority, rites, and economic life within the temple complex. Priests or temple administrations organize calendars, ritual cycles, offerings, and maintenance, and access to sacred space or corporate worship is mediated through temple institutions.

In urban planning or architectural discourse, a temple-centric layout centers the temple in the geographic or ceremonial heart of a city or precinct, with streets, markets, and public buildings arranged to orbit or converge on the sacred space. Such layouts often reflect cosmological ideas, pilgrimage routes, and the social weight of temple patronage.

Scholars may use the term to analyze historical societies in which temples acted as economic, political, and educational hubs, shaping land use and social hierarchy in addition to religious life. In contemporary usage, temple-centric can describe religious movements or communities where temple-based worship remains a central organizing principle, though the term is informal and context dependent.

See also: temple, sacred space, religious architecture, urban planning, sacred geography.