American Sacred Space

American Sacred Space
Author: David Chidester
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 1995-11-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780253210067

In a series of pioneering studies, this book examines the creation—and the conflict behind the creation—of sacred space in America. The essays in this volume visit places in America where economic, political, and social forces clash over the sacred and the profane, from wilderness areas in the American West to the Mall in Washington, D.C., and they investigate visions of America as sacred space at home and abroad. Here are the beginnings of a new American religious history—told as the story of the contested spaces it has inhabited. The contributors are David Chidester, Matthew Glass, Edward T. Linenthal, Colleen McDannell, Robert S. Michaelsen, Rowland A. Sherrill, and Bron Taylor.

Religion and Community in the New Urban America

Religion and Community in the New Urban America
Author: Paul David Numrich
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2015
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199386846

This study examines the interrelated transformations of cities and urban congregations over the past several decades. How does the new metropolis affect local religious communities? What is the role of local religious communities in creating the new metropolis? Through an in-depth study of fifteen Chicago congregations - Catholic parishes, Protestant churches, Jewish synagogues, Muslim mosques, and a Hindu temple, city and suburban, neighbourhood-based and commuter - this book describes congregational life and measures congregational influences on urban environments.

American Sanctuary

American Sanctuary
Author: Louis P. Nelson
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2006-03-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780253111968

This volume examines a diverse set of spaces and buildings seen through the lens of popular practice and belief to shed light on the complexities of sacred space in America. Contributors explore how dedication sermons document shifting understandings of the meetinghouse in early 19th-century Connecticut; the changes in evangelical church architecture during the same century and what that tells us about evangelical religious life; the impact of contemporary issues on Catholic church architecture; the impact of globalization on the construction of traditional sacred spaces; the urban practice of Jewish space; nature worship and Central Park in New York; the mezuzah and domestic sacred space; and, finally, the spiritual aspects of African American yard art.

Religion and American Cultures [4 volumes]

Religion and American Cultures [4 volumes]
Author: Gary Laderman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 1863
Release: 2014-12-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1610691105

This four-volume work provides a detailed, multicultural survey of established as well as "new" American religions and investigates the fascinating interactions between religion and ethnicity, gender, politics, regionalism, ethics, and popular culture. This revised and expanded edition of Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression presents more than 140 essays that address contemporary spiritual practice and culture with a historical perspective. The entries cover virtually every religion in modern-day America as well as the role of religion in various aspects of U.S. culture. Readers will discover that Americans aren't largely Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish anymore, and that the number of popular religious identities is far greater than many would imagine. And although most Americans believe in a higher power, the fastest growing identity in the United States is the "nones"—those Americans who elect "none" when asked about their religious identity—thereby demonstrating how many individuals see their spirituality as something not easily defined or categorized. The first volume explores America's multicultural communities and their religious practices, covering the range of different religions among Anglo-Americans and Euro-Americans as well as spirituality among Latino, African American, Native American, and Asian American communities. The second volume focuses on cultural aspects of religions, addressing topics such as film, Generation X, public sacred spaces, sexuality, and new religious expressions. The new third volume expands the range of topics covered with in-depth essays on additional topics such as interfaith families, religion in prisons, belief in the paranormal, and religion after September 11, 2001. The fourth volume is devoted to complementary primary source documents.

Gods of the City

Gods of the City
Author: Robert A. Orsi
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 420
Release: 1999-07-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780253212764

Book Review

Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys

Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys
Author: Dallen Timothy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2006-09-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1134257562

Religion and spirituality are still among the most common motivations for travel - many major tourism destinations have developed largely as a result of their connections to sacred people, places and events. Providing a comprehensive assessment of the primary issues and concepts related to this intersection of tourism and religion, this revealing book gives a balanced discussion of both the theoretical and applied subjects that destination planners, religious organizations, scholars, and tourism service providers must deal with on a daily basis. Bringing together a distinguished list of contributors, this volume takes a global approach and incorporates substantial empirical cases from Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, New Ageism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and the spiritual philosophies of East Asia. On a conceptual level, it considers, amongst other topics: contested heritage the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy secularization of pilgrimage experiences religious humanism educational aspects of religious tourism commodification of religious icons and services. A vibrant collection of essays, this outstanding book discusses many important practices, paradigms, and problems that are currently being examined and debated. It raises an array of significant and interesting questions and as such is a valuable resource for students, scholars and researchers of tourism, religion and cultural studies.

Shopping as an Entertainment Experience

Shopping as an Entertainment Experience
Author: Mark Howard Moss
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780739116814

Shopping as an Entertainment Experience explores the ways in which shopping has become a significant entertainment feature in our daily lives. Dr. Mark H. Moss examines the department store, the mall, and the e-store to demonstrate how shopping is often the most common leisure experience that people indulge in to occupy themselves. This unique book focuses on the historical evolution of shopping environments into contemporary entertainment or cultural zones. Through a phenomenological framework, Moss analyzes the way stores, outlets, and restaurants in malls mingle and merge aspects of consumption and merchandising. Shopping as an Entertainment Experience appeals to sociologists, cultural theorists, and those interested in popular culture.

Flights of Fancy, Leaps of Faith

Flights of Fancy, Leaps of Faith
Author: Cindy Dell Clark
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 1995
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0226107787

Through the mysteries and myths of Christmas and Easter, families balance the values of receiving and giving, of growth and sacrifice. Each aspect of the Santa myth, from his slide down a chimney to his big red suit, plays a part in a child's imagination. Through their offerings of milk and cookies and their letter writing, children bring their relationship to Santa into developing attitudes toward giving and receiving gifts. The Easter Bunny story, with its ritual egg hunt and baskets of brightly colored candy, is explored in terms of life and its possibility of growth. In these examples, Clark shows how children play an active role in constructing family rituals and cultural reality, since their willingness to make the stories their own helps to renew the traditions.

You Are What You Love

You Are What You Love
Author: James K. A. Smith
Publisher: Brazos Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-03-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493403664

You are what you love. But you might not love what you think. In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the "imagination station" that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship. Following the publication of his influential work Desiring the Kingdom, Smith received numerous requests from pastors and leaders for a more accessible version of that book's content. No mere abridgment, this new book draws on years of Smith's popular presentations on the ideas in Desiring the Kingdom to offer a fresh, bottom-up rearticulation. The author creatively uses film, literature, and music illustrations to engage readers and includes new material on marriage, family, youth ministry, and faith and work. He also suggests individual and communal practices for shaping the Christian life.