Geographies of Religion as Theological Ontologies
A Difficult 'Rapprochement' with Religious Studies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.34095Keywords:
geography of religion, religious studies, theology, cultural geography, ontologyAbstract
Geographers of religion have seldom engaged with religious studies, and the reverse is true as well. While some blame geographers for their insularity and incoherence, my central argument is that the focus of geographers on ontological questions has led geographies of religion to wax more theologically, producing an obstacle to dialogue with religious studies. The suggestion for rapprochement requires religious studies scholars to be interested in ontological questions that do not foreclose the constitution of material space, ultimately requiring a reconciliation with theology.
References
Avis, Paul. 2002. Anglicanism and the Christian Church: Theological Resources in Historical Perspective. London: T&T Clark.
Bartolini, Nadia, Robert Chris, Sara Mackian, and Steve Pile. 2017. “The Place of Spirit: Modernity and the Geographies Of Spirituality.” Progress in Human Geography 41 (3): 338–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516644512.
de Certeau, Michel. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life, ed. Steven Rendall. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cloke, Paul. 2011. “Emerging Geographies of Evil? Theo-ethics and Postsecular Possibilities.” Cultural Geographies 18 (4): 475–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474011401993.
Cosgrove, Denis. 1998. Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape, 2nd ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Duncan, James. 1980. “The Superorganic in American Cultural Geography.”Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70(2): 181–98 .https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1980.tb01306.x.
———. 1990. The City as Text: The Politics of Landscape in the Kandyan Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Duncan, James, and David Ley. 1982. “Structural Marxism and Human Geography: A Critical Assessment.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 72 (1): 30–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1982.tb01381.x.
Dwyer, Claire. 1999. “Veiled Meanings: Young British Muslim Women and the Negotiation of Differences.” Gender, Place, and Culture 6 (1): 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09663699925123.
Gökariksel, Banu, and Anna Secor. 2012. “‘Even I Was tempted’: The Moral Ambivalence and Ethical Practice of Veiling-Fashion in Turkey.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102 (4): 847–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.601221.
———. 2015. “Post-Secular Geographies and the Problem of Pluralism: Religion and Everyday Life in Istanbul, Turkey.” Political Geography 46: 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.10.006.
Holloway, Julian. 2003. “Make-Believe: Spiritual Practice, Embodiment, and Sacred Space.” Environment and Planning A 35 (11): 1961–974. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3586.
Holloway, Julian, and Oliver Valins. 2002. “Editorial: Placing Religion and Spirituality in Geography.” Social and Cultural Geography 3 (1): 5-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360120114107.
Hopkins, Peter. 2007. ”Young People, Masculinities, Religion and Race: New Social Geographies.” Progress in Human Geography 31 (2): 163–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132507075362.
Isaac, Erich. 1965. “Religious Geography and the Geography of Religion.” In Man and the Earth, 1–14. University of Colorado Studies, Series in Earth Sciences No. 3. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
Knott, Kim. 2005. The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis. London: Equinox.
Kong, Lily. 1990. “Geography and Religion: Trends and Prospects.” Progress in Human Geography 14: 355–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913259001400302.
———. 2001. “Mapping ‘New’ Geographies of Religion: Politics and Poetics in Modernity.” Progress in Human Geography 25 (2): 211–33. https://doi.org/10.1191/030913201678580485.
———. 2010. “Global Shifts, Theoretical Shifts: Changing Geographies of Religion.” Progress in Human Geography, 34 (6): 755–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132510362602.
Ley, David. 1974. “The City and Good and Evil: Reflections on Christian and Marxist Interpretations.” Antipode 6 (1): 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.1974.tb00586.x.
———. 2012. Preface to Postsecular Cities, edited by Justin Beaumont and Christopher Baker, x–xii. London: Bloomsbury.
McCutcheon, Russell. 2007. Studying Religion: An Introduction. London: Equinox.
Megoran, Nick. 2004. “Faith and Vocation: Christianity and Political Geography: On Faith and Geopolitical Imagination.” The Brandywine Review of Faith and International Affairs 2 (2): 40-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435725.2004.9523183.
Olson, Elizabeth, Peter Hopkins, Rachel Pain, and Giselle Vincett. 2013. “Retheorizing the Postsecular Present: Embodiment, Spatial Transcendence, and Challenges to Authenticity among Young Christians in Glasgow, Scotland.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103: 1421–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2012.702516.
Park, Chris. 1994. Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and Religion. London: Routledge.
Pickles, John. 2004. A History of Spaces: Cartographic Reason, Mapping, and the Geo-coded World. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203351437.
Sadgrove, Joanna, Robert M. Vanderbeck, Kevin Ward, Gill Valentine, and Johan Andersson. 2010. “Constructing the Boundaries of Anglican Orthodoxy: An Analysis of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).” Religion 40 (3): 193–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2010.02.006.
Samuels, Marwyn, and David Ley, eds. 1978. Humanistic Geography: Prospects and Problems. Chicago: Moufa Press.
Saunders, Robert A. 2013. “Pagan Places: Towards A Religiogeography of Neopaganism.” Progress in Human Geography 37 (6): 786–810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132512473868.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1992. To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sopher, David. 1967. Geography of Religions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Tse, Justin K. H. 2014. “Grounded Theologies: ‘Religion’ and the ‘Secular’ in Human Geography.” Progress in Human Geography 38 (2): 201–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132512475105.
———. 2019. “Cultural Geography.” In Theorizing Ancient Religion, edited by Nicholas Roubekas, 361–80. Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture. Sheffield: Equinox.
Tuan, Yi-fu. 2012. Humanist Geography: An Individual’s Search for Meaning. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press.
Vanderbeck, Robert M., Johan Andersson, Gill Valentine, Joanna Sadgrove, and Kevin Ward. 2011. “Sexuality, Activism, and Witness in the Anglican Communion: The 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101 (3): 670–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.561105.
Warf, Barney, and Mort Winsberg. 2008. “The Geography of Religious Diversity in the United States.” Professional Geographer 60 (3): 413–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00330120802046786.
Wilford, Justin. 2010. “Sacred Archipelagos: Geographies of Secularization.” Progress in Human Geography, 34 (3): 328–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132509348558.
Yeoh, Brenda S.A. 1996. Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power Relations and the Urban Built Environment. Singapore:?Singapore?University Press.
Yorgason, Ethan, and Veronica della Dora. 2009. “Geography, Religion, and Emerging Paradigms: Problematizing the Dialogue.” Social and Cultural Geography 10 (6): 629–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360903068100.
Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1961. “An Approach to the Religious Geography of the United States: Patterns of Church Membership in 1952.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 51( 2): 139–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1961.tb00372.x.
Bartolini, Nadia, Robert Chris, Sara Mackian, and Steve Pile. 2017. “The Place of Spirit: Modernity and the Geographies Of Spirituality.” Progress in Human Geography 41 (3): 338–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516644512.
de Certeau, Michel. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life, ed. Steven Rendall. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cloke, Paul. 2011. “Emerging Geographies of Evil? Theo-ethics and Postsecular Possibilities.” Cultural Geographies 18 (4): 475–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474011401993.
Cosgrove, Denis. 1998. Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape, 2nd ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Duncan, James. 1980. “The Superorganic in American Cultural Geography.”Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70(2): 181–98 .https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1980.tb01306.x.
———. 1990. The City as Text: The Politics of Landscape in the Kandyan Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Duncan, James, and David Ley. 1982. “Structural Marxism and Human Geography: A Critical Assessment.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 72 (1): 30–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1982.tb01381.x.
Dwyer, Claire. 1999. “Veiled Meanings: Young British Muslim Women and the Negotiation of Differences.” Gender, Place, and Culture 6 (1): 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09663699925123.
Gökariksel, Banu, and Anna Secor. 2012. “‘Even I Was tempted’: The Moral Ambivalence and Ethical Practice of Veiling-Fashion in Turkey.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102 (4): 847–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.601221.
———. 2015. “Post-Secular Geographies and the Problem of Pluralism: Religion and Everyday Life in Istanbul, Turkey.” Political Geography 46: 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.10.006.
Holloway, Julian. 2003. “Make-Believe: Spiritual Practice, Embodiment, and Sacred Space.” Environment and Planning A 35 (11): 1961–974. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3586.
Holloway, Julian, and Oliver Valins. 2002. “Editorial: Placing Religion and Spirituality in Geography.” Social and Cultural Geography 3 (1): 5-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360120114107.
Hopkins, Peter. 2007. ”Young People, Masculinities, Religion and Race: New Social Geographies.” Progress in Human Geography 31 (2): 163–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132507075362.
Isaac, Erich. 1965. “Religious Geography and the Geography of Religion.” In Man and the Earth, 1–14. University of Colorado Studies, Series in Earth Sciences No. 3. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
Knott, Kim. 2005. The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis. London: Equinox.
Kong, Lily. 1990. “Geography and Religion: Trends and Prospects.” Progress in Human Geography 14: 355–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913259001400302.
———. 2001. “Mapping ‘New’ Geographies of Religion: Politics and Poetics in Modernity.” Progress in Human Geography 25 (2): 211–33. https://doi.org/10.1191/030913201678580485.
———. 2010. “Global Shifts, Theoretical Shifts: Changing Geographies of Religion.” Progress in Human Geography, 34 (6): 755–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132510362602.
Ley, David. 1974. “The City and Good and Evil: Reflections on Christian and Marxist Interpretations.” Antipode 6 (1): 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.1974.tb00586.x.
———. 2012. Preface to Postsecular Cities, edited by Justin Beaumont and Christopher Baker, x–xii. London: Bloomsbury.
McCutcheon, Russell. 2007. Studying Religion: An Introduction. London: Equinox.
Megoran, Nick. 2004. “Faith and Vocation: Christianity and Political Geography: On Faith and Geopolitical Imagination.” The Brandywine Review of Faith and International Affairs 2 (2): 40-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435725.2004.9523183.
Olson, Elizabeth, Peter Hopkins, Rachel Pain, and Giselle Vincett. 2013. “Retheorizing the Postsecular Present: Embodiment, Spatial Transcendence, and Challenges to Authenticity among Young Christians in Glasgow, Scotland.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103: 1421–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2012.702516.
Park, Chris. 1994. Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and Religion. London: Routledge.
Pickles, John. 2004. A History of Spaces: Cartographic Reason, Mapping, and the Geo-coded World. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203351437.
Sadgrove, Joanna, Robert M. Vanderbeck, Kevin Ward, Gill Valentine, and Johan Andersson. 2010. “Constructing the Boundaries of Anglican Orthodoxy: An Analysis of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).” Religion 40 (3): 193–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2010.02.006.
Samuels, Marwyn, and David Ley, eds. 1978. Humanistic Geography: Prospects and Problems. Chicago: Moufa Press.
Saunders, Robert A. 2013. “Pagan Places: Towards A Religiogeography of Neopaganism.” Progress in Human Geography 37 (6): 786–810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132512473868.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1992. To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sopher, David. 1967. Geography of Religions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Tse, Justin K. H. 2014. “Grounded Theologies: ‘Religion’ and the ‘Secular’ in Human Geography.” Progress in Human Geography 38 (2): 201–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132512475105.
———. 2019. “Cultural Geography.” In Theorizing Ancient Religion, edited by Nicholas Roubekas, 361–80. Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture. Sheffield: Equinox.
Tuan, Yi-fu. 2012. Humanist Geography: An Individual’s Search for Meaning. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press.
Vanderbeck, Robert M., Johan Andersson, Gill Valentine, Joanna Sadgrove, and Kevin Ward. 2011. “Sexuality, Activism, and Witness in the Anglican Communion: The 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101 (3): 670–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.561105.
Warf, Barney, and Mort Winsberg. 2008. “The Geography of Religious Diversity in the United States.” Professional Geographer 60 (3): 413–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00330120802046786.
Wilford, Justin. 2010. “Sacred Archipelagos: Geographies of Secularization.” Progress in Human Geography, 34 (3): 328–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132509348558.
Yeoh, Brenda S.A. 1996. Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power Relations and the Urban Built Environment. Singapore:?Singapore?University Press.
Yorgason, Ethan, and Veronica della Dora. 2009. “Geography, Religion, and Emerging Paradigms: Problematizing the Dialogue.” Social and Cultural Geography 10 (6): 629–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360903068100.
Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1961. “An Approach to the Religious Geography of the United States: Patterns of Church Membership in 1952.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 51( 2): 139–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1961.tb00372.x.
Published
2019-11-11
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Tse, J. (2019). Geographies of Religion as Theological Ontologies: A Difficult ’Rapprochement’ with Religious Studies. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 48(1-2), 19-26. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.34095
