The Oxford Handbook of Religious Space

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-three essays addressing these questions using a range of methods and approaches to examine specific spaces or types of spaces around the world and across time. The authors here represent and draw upon many disciplines: religious studies and religion, anthropology, archaeology, architectural history and architecture, cultural and religious history, sociology, geography, gender and women’s studies and others. Their 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 more.

Some 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. 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; they play an active role in creating, expressing, broadcasting, maintaining, and transforming religious meanings and religious experiences. By learning how religious spaces function, readers of this collection will gain a deeper understanding of religious life and religions themselves.