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How Do We Understand Religious Spaces? What Is Their Role Or Function Within Specific Religious Traditions Or With Respect To Religious Experience? This Handbook Brings Together Thirty-seven Authors Addressing These Questions, Using A Range Of Methods To Analyze Specific Spaces Or Types Of Spaces Around The World And Across Time. Their Methods Are Grounded In Many Disciplines: Religious Studies And Religion, Anthropology, Archaeology, Architectural History And Architecture, Cultural And Religious History, Sociology, Gender And Women's Studies, Geography, And Political Science, Resulting In A Distinctly Interdisciplinary Collection. These Essays Are Snapshots, Each Offering A Specific Way To Think About The Religious Space(s) Under Consideration: Roman Shrines, Jewish Synagogues, Christian Churches, Muslim And Catholic Shrines, Indigenous Spaces In Central America And East Africa, Cemeteries, Memorials, And Others. They Are Organized Here By Geographical Region Rather Than Tradition, To Emphasized The Cultural Roots Of Religion And Religious Spaces. Several Overarching Principles Emerge From These Snapshots. The Authors Demonstrate That Religious Spaces Are Simultaneously Individual And Collective, Personal, And Social; That They Are Influenced By Culture, Tradition, And Immediate Circumstances; And That They Participate In Various Relationships Of Power. Most Importantly, These Essays Demonstrate That Religious Spaces Do Not Simply Provide A Convenient Background For Religious Action But Are Also Constituent Of Religious Meaning And Religious Experience, That Is, They Play An Active Role In Creating, Expressing, Broadcasting, Maintaining, And Transforming Religious Meaning, Experience--
How do religious spaces function as active agents in the creation, maintenance, and transformation of religious meaning and experience? This volume, edited by a team of scholars including Barbara Ambros and David Bains, synthesizes contributions from thirty-seven experts across disciplines such as archaeology, sociology, and political science. The authors argue that religious sites are not merely passive backdrops for ritual but are constituent elements that shape the social and personal dimensions of faith.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and students of religious studies frequently cite this handbook as a foundational interdisciplinary resource for understanding the intersection of physical environment and spiritual practice. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a rigorous reference for researchers investigating the sociology of space.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
2022-01-01
ISBN-10:
0190874996
ISBN-13:
9780190874995
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