Foundations Of Social And Behavioral Sciences Theory

Geographies of Religion: Sacred Space/Place

sacred + space + place

•Most often, sacred space is used to speak in general and abstract terms; sacred place is used to speak about specific sacred locations

•Sacred = From Latin sacere which means sacred or holy, but there are no other roots.

Émile Durkheim (French Sociologist, 1858-1917) •First to use sacred space/place in a systematic way: Elementary Forms of Religious Life

• What is the sacred? What is religion? • An attempt at explaining the mysteries of the universe? • An attempt to account for a creative, dominant divinity? • The definition of religion must account for every single instance through out history.

The Sacred and the Profane

Durkheim’s definition of religion:

“a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and surrounded by

prohibitions—beliefs and practices that unite its adherents in a single moral community . . .”

Durkheim: Religion is a community worshipping itself. The sacred and the profane are ways of ordering the

community and its relation to the world.

What is Sacred Space/Place for Durkheim?

1.It is radically set apart from normal, everyday space/place

2.It is not individual 3.It is a socially unifying location 4.It contributes to communal

“effervescence”

Effervescence

“Within a crowd moved by a common passion, we become susceptible to feelings and actions of which we are incapable on our own. And when the crowd is dissolved, when we find ourselves alone again and fall back to our usual level, we can then measure how far we were raised above ourselves. . . .”

Effervescence

“Once the individuals are assembled, their proximity generates a kind of electricity that quickly transports them to an extraordinary degree of exaltation. Every emotion expressed is retained without resistance in all those minds so open to external impressions, each one echoing the others. The initial impulse becomes amplified as it reverberates, like an avalanche gathering force as it goes. . .”

Can there be modern sacred spaces/places?

Avalon (Limelight) Nightclub, Formerly the Communion Episcopal Church

Converted church in England

Saddleback Valley Community Church (third largest U.S. megachurch)

5 Campuses 7 Service Times 8 Styles of Service $47.9 Million Budget 20,000 average attendees at main campus

0%

10%

20%

30%

1990 2001 2008

Catholic Baptist Mainline Nones/No Religion

Percent Change in Adherence

Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identification Survey 2008 (Program on Public Values: Hartford, CT, 2008).

Evangelical vs. Mainline Protestants

percent of congregations growing (2006)

Source: Hartford Institute for the Religion Research0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

2006

Mainline Evangelicals

0%

15%

30%

45%

60%

Before 1945 1945-1965 1966-1989 1990-2000

Liberal Mainline Moderate Mainline Evangelical

Percentage of Congregations Growing Percentage of Congregations Organized

Source: Hartford Institute for the Religion Research

Older evangelical "family" church in traditional suburbs is not growing . . .

The post-suburban evangelical church is growing . . .

Suburban and Post-Suburban Church Growth

Internally fragmented

Useful vs. theological

Focused on rapid growth

Transition &

Tension

“People are more receptive to the Gospel when they face changes like a new marriage, a new baby, a new home, a new job, or a new school. This is why churches generally grow faster in new communities where residents are continually moving in than in stable, older communities where people have lived for forty years”

work politics culture

suburban single- family homes

Modern Industrial Urban Model

“City & Suburb

Home

Work-Politics-Culture

Multi-nodal Post-metropolis/ Post-suburbia

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985), p. 131.

5 Circles of Commitment

Scattered Non-Christians

Church Campus

?

5 Circles of Commitment

Core Members =

Foreign Missions & Small Home

Groups

Unchurched Community

= Central Church

Campus5 Circles of Commitment

• 6-12 church members (not always formal members)

• Do not meet on church campus

• Meet in each other’s homes

Fellowship =

close, intimate social interaction

Antidote to “transition and tension”

Work/Production FamilySchool

Work/Social LifeCulture/Media

“This sort of life-work takes time.” - Steve Gladen, Senior Pastor of Small Groups, Saddleback Church

Saddleback Church