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This paper analyzes the major change in the Jewish sacred space in Israel. It demonstrates the distinct process wherein pilgrimages emphasizing ancient Jewish history are often replaced by visits at the tombs of venerated contemporary figures. In various places throughout Israel (and the Diaspora), a complex system of sacred tombs has developed comprising sites that are physically and symbolically distant from Jerusalem. In recent years, cemeteries throughout the State of Israel have been transformed from burial places serving the families of the deceased to pilgrimage destinations for visitors specifically seeking to prostrate themselves on the holy graves of rabbis, public figures, and leaders of communities and Hasidic dynasties, whether Mizrachi or Ashkenazi. This tsadikification process has developed almost without institutional or national political involvement, and is the result of the activities of individuals and families, non-profit organizations, Hasidic dynasties, and various organizations promoting the expansion of the map of Jewish sanctity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using and adapting the ideas of material religion, this paper considers Wesleyan Methodist circuits: the organisation of chapels within specific geographical areas into co-dependent communities. Interested in circuits as an example of the extension of religious space beyond institutional contexts – the extended geographies of religion – it highlights the importance of thinking about such spaces as material things. Using two circuits in London (Bow and Highgate) as case studies, this paper focuses on representations of circuits and their visual and material qualities. It then explores how material approaches facilitate insights into the differences between how religious leaders designed these spaces and how individuals experienced them. Taking a material approach to congregational bodies, objects and (sub)urban landscapes, it simultaneously considers how material things gain meaning through their participation in humans' social networks and as a result of their inherent material properties. In particular, it argues that taking this material approach to the extended geographies of religious practice is an effective method of gaining insights into individuals' everyday experiences of religious spaces. Most specifically, it emphasises how the insights that material approaches provide into everyday religious practices are especially useful when studying individuals in the past, as their voices are generally unrepresented in the official archival documents of religious institutions that historical research into religious communities is often dependent on. • Promotes material approaches to extended geographies of historical religious practice. • Uses and adapts material religion approaches. • Investigates the everyday experiences of nonconformist congregations. • Compares the official design and lived experience of religious spaces. • Identifies differences between the design and lived experience of Wesleyan circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postsecular geographies seek to examine how place is linked with identity and how religious identities in turn can be accommodated in public space. Postsecular practices in urban contexts have been researched extensively, but they do not always fully engage with a relational approach to place‐making. This paper argues that through the place‐making practices seen at Virgin Mary statues in Dublin city, Ireland, a relational approach to examining postsecular practices and representations provides a more productive way to understand how the secular and the religious coexist in cities. The paper uses archival and contemporary data gathered from a sample of Marian statues in Dublin city to locate the relational geographies of the religious and the secular. By focussing on the ways that the statues remain uncontested within a changing urban landscape, the paper re‐examines the political significance of religious place‐making practices. It concludes that if geographies of religion in the postsecular city are to have a broader relevance to geography, they need a relational approach to place‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper conceptualizes protest rhetoric in order to theorize the underlying relationship between communication and subjectivity. We do this by highlighting how rhetorical protest challenges the sovereignty of voice. Our argument is that Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses is an example of a sign that protests. To make this argument, we use a materialist method from media studies that simultaneously examines the formal capacities of a sign that protests and maps its historical transformation. Our analysis opens with the two prevailing accounts of Luther's theses: disputation and dissemination. We extend both disputation and dissemination by placing them in a “universal history” of protest rhetoric that grounds many accepted critical rhetorical theories in specific systems of representation. Drawing together our findings, we conclude by urging the replacement oflogosand logocentrism with the logistics of protest rhetoric in order to link together disputation and dissemination as a mechanism for both change and subjection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The art of Tai Chi can be examined as both a spiritual practice as well as a form of meditative exercise; in doing Tai Chi, the corporeal practice is transformative. This paper expands on recent research on the geography of religion and examines individual, bodily experiences of sacred space through a qualitative, empirical investigation of the Tallahassee branch of the Taoist Tai Chi society. Interviews conducted with members reflect both an awareness that the body is transformed through the practice of Tai Chi as well as an understanding of the body as something separate from oneself, and thus something that is capable of being transformed. The practice of Tai Chi presents evidence of the importance of examining the body's physical engagement with the spiritual as well as reflects the notion of Eliade's hierophanic conception of sacred space. The performance of Tai Chi triggers a hierophanic, transformative event with the body at the center of the spiritual experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the potential of Italy to represent a special case of religious engagement in foreign policy. It mentions the mechanisms for the country to develop a model of such engagement in foreign policy, such as its geo-religious position and special relationship with the Catholic Church and with the world. It discusses the conditions to met for such model to work, such as the need for foreign ministers to be concerned with religion, and the potential risks to be mitigated

The article discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's (USSC's) ruling in the 2014 case Town of Greece v. Galloway which deals with American religious pluralism, several aspects of religious geography, and the legal protections under the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause. The historical aspects of America's religious laws are addressed, along with the USSC case Marsh v. Chambers which examined the legality of the Nebraska Legislature's opening prayer practices.

The time of the imperial Guptas (c.fourth to sixth centuries CE) represents a pivotal moment in the development of ‘mature Hinduism’. This was characterised by many changes, but most conspicuously by the establishment of institutional worship in temples. Clear archaeological signatures were inscribed across the cultural and physical landscapes of India in the fourth and fifth centuries: away from zones of urbanisation, numerous settlement areas retain sculptural and architectural vestiges in stone, most of them religious in nature. These vestiges, anchored and distributed in space, and with site-specific contexts, reveal much about the production and reproduction of sacred and socio-economic space, which were inextricably tied to water and the environment. For the purpose of this special issue, this article focuses on the archaeological landscapes of Baḍoh-Paṭhāri (Vidiśā District, Madhya Pradesh), an historical site which developed as an important population centre from at least early historic times onwards, if not before, and was connected to the political, trade, and defensive networks of the upper Betwā Basin. Some important remains from Gupta and later Gupta times are found in the immediate surroundings of this place. Their study provides an interesting basis upon which to explore issues relating to the conception and spatiality of new devotional, institutional, and socio-economic domains; and the integration, articulation, and transformation of natural features and local geography in the making of gods’ territory during this crucial period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the spiritual aspect of Hajj which is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. It focuses on the discourse of Hajj by Ali ibn Husayn. It mentions that Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims which must be done at least once in their lifetime by all adults Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support their family.

The author offers information on anarchism and Professor Simon Springer's attempts to think about human futures. Topics discussed include his and Springer's desire to see geographical scholarship and practice oriented towards the construction of more peaceful human futures, Springer's intervention that Christianity and anarchism are incompatible and his belief that religion is generally productive of violence and anarchism of nonviolence.

Religious heritage is an important cultural resource for a city. First, cities are at the crossroads of conflicting trends in globalisation. Urban communities are looking for that which makes them universal and unique at the same time. Second, reflection on identity in relation to the heritage and history of a city reveals the multicultural past of Central and Eastern Europe, and shows an image of social change and transformation. Religious heritage plays, therefore, various roles. Places connected with religious identities have symbolic, sacred and artistic meanings. They construct a local universe of meaning ; they are an important factor of the local narrative and customs, and they place it in the context of national, regional and ethnic traditions. Churches, temples, and cemeteries are also a sign of memory, this shows not only history but also the contemporary processes of remembering and forgetting. The city of Bielsko-Biała was a cultural and religious mosaic until 1945. Jewish, German and Polish cultures were meeting here everyday with diverse religious belonging and boundaries. Today, the heritage of its religious identity is recognized mainly via monuments, tourist attractions, and cultural events. Only occasionally is the religious heritage of the city analysed in the context of collective identities. Urban space still reflects the complexity of the relationships between religious, national, and regional identities. The purpose of the paper is to describe the variety of functions of religious heritage in a contemporary city on the example of Bielsko-Biała in Poland. The analysis will be based on demographic data from the national census of population, religious community documents, available sociological research outcomes, and historical and contemporary images of the city such as maps and plans, postcards and tourist brochures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious orders are clearly noticeable in the geographic space of major cities in Poland. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the location factors for religious orders in Kraków, including the location of the most important houses and their related activity in the city. Religious orders have been present in Kraków since its beginnings. The paper covers convents run by the Roman Catholic Church within the borders of Kraków. The paper is focused on the 20th century when a considerable increase of the number of religious orders and general spatial development of the city was observed. The data for this paper was obtained from church and secular sources, as well as land surveys. In addition, changes in the spatial distribution of religious orders and monastic houses operating in Kraków in the 20th century as well as modifications in their functions were analysed. The largest concentration of monastic houses is Kraków's historic core. The actual distribution of convents is a result of centuriesold traditions and depends on numerous factors such as the capital city function of Kraków in effect until the end of the 16th century and the rank of religious administration ( bishopric ). A further increase in the number of monastic houses was also due to the spatial growth of the city and the general development of monastic life. Religious orders were characterised by various endogenous and exogenous functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, issues of a multitude of functions of sacred places in Lviv are considered. The problem is presented on the example of selected religious sites that were established in distinct periods of the development of the city and refers to different religious denominations. At present, various functions are mixing in the sacred complexes of Lviv. The author tries to formulate some general conclusions concerning their contemporary role and leading types of activity. These findings are based, most of all, on analyses of the facts related to the history of Lviv, circumstances of its foundation, various transformations, and modern functions of the selected sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is the identification and description of factors affecting the process of sacralisation as well as the implementation of theoretical concepts in a case study of the Baltic city of Gdynia. The time range of the research is limited to the postwar period ( 1945-2013 ). It has been assumed that the formation of any religious landscape occurs under two main circumstances : ( 1 ) the need to express faith and ( 2 ) the opportunity to do it. The former is an internal factor and depends on religiosity, while the latter is closely related to politics, environment, economy and social life. A detailed scheme was constructed around this statement in the form of a mapping sentence. The research is based on qualitative measures which include field observation, analysis of source documents, and an analysis and criticism of bibliographic sources. Visual documentation and participant observation have also been used. There are two main conclusions coming out of this paper. Although any religious landscape is a mixture of different factors, by the 1980s the sacralisation of Gdynia was determined mainly by political factors, and later by economic and cultural ones. Furthermore, for three decades some tendencies, typical also for the whole country, have also been recognised in Gdynia : monumentalism, privatisation of sacred sites and the "John-Paul-the-Second-isation" of public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses some of the recent trends in the scholarship on Islam and Africa that contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the historical relationship between African Muslims and the global ecumene of believers. Rather than looking at the faith as an insular African phenomenon, this piece examines the links between Africans and the wider community of believers across space and time. Such an approach has important ramifications for our understanding of the dynamics of Islam. However, it also challenges many of the assumptions underpinning the geographic area studies paradigm that has dominated the academy since the Second World War. This essay suggests the adoption of a more fluid approach to scholarly inquiry that reimagines our largely continental attachment to regions in favor of a more intellectually agile methodology where the scope of inquiry is determined less by geographic boundaries and more by the questions we seek to answer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Religions and their impact to the environment is inseparable part of human geography. Various religious objects are the most noticeable in the landscape. In Christianity the common element of cultural landscape are Churches, monasteries, cemeteries, various religious monuments, chapels, roadside crosses and crucifixes. The most common researches for religious geographers are to uncover the development and dislocation of these objects, as well as forms, meanings, and symbols. The article discusses the main religious objects and their geographic places in Lithuania. Landscape reshapes constantly by the impact of natural or cultural processes. Various constructions often reflect values and identity of the communities or the individuals. The article presents such elements of religious landscape as Churches, monasteries, Calvaries, grottos of Lourdes, roadside crosses and crucifixes. The maps of the dislocation places of Lithuanian monasteries, Calvaries and grottos of Lourdes are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young Ladakhis have grown up along disputed borders between Pakistan and China in India's Jammu and Kashmir State. During their lifetimes, conflict in Kashmir and in their hometowns (between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority) has highlighted the region's geopolitical vulnerability; in words overheard in the schoolyard and kitchen, religion is always already political and territorial. This article traces how young Muslim and Buddhist Ladakhis in Ladakh's Leh District are constituted as a category and site of territorial potential, and how the young people I spoke with navigate and elude this positioning. Their grandparents married across religious lines and their parents used family planning enthusiastically, but these practices are now political problems. Youth alternate between cynicism and hopeful visions of the future. Meanwhile, parents see education in distant urban centres as a path to a desired 'modernity', but also as a dangerous site where unruly love, lack of supervision and immorality might compromise religious identity. Building on geographies of young people and religion, and on anthropologies of the future, this research draws on two youth projects, a survey and interviews. I suggest that parents, political actors and religious leaders conceive of the young as crucial to the constitution of future territories. This makes their bodies a site of intense anxiety and regulation, as well as hope and potential. Beyond this case study, I offer the concept of generational vertigo, a mixture of apprehension and anticipation regarding the future, and suggest that attending to how and why this vertigo is manifest provides a way to think through relationships between young people, time and territory. The future is located in the volatile bodies of young people; hence the desire to defend territory and shape the future is manifest in attempts to manage the potential of these bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Spectacular new religious buildings on London's outskirts are often cited as evidence of London's multicultural diversity. However, the suburban location of these new buildings is usually dismissed as incongruous, drawing on familiar tropes of the suburbs as sites of modernisation, materialism and secularism. This paper uses this assumed incongruity to address the complexity of relationships between religion and suburban space by tracing the significance of religion in changing suburban geographies through a focus on London's suburbs. The paper begins with a critique of the absence of religion in suburban studies, which emphasise secularisation and homogeneity. The rediscovery of the creative potential of the suburbs gives little consideration to religious creativity. Similarly recent work on diasporas and religion have little to say about the significance of the suburban. Our paper uses three case studies, of different faith groups, from North and West London to explore three distinctive articulations of the relationship between religion and suburban space that we call 'semi-detached faith', 'edge-city faith' and 'ethnoburb faith'. These examples are not intended as ideal types but as analytical categories that open up the relationships between space, faith and mobilities. We argue there is a need to more carefully theorise the ways in which faith communities have engaged with the challenges of suburban geographies including processes of secularisation and suggest that the study of faith in suburbia offers new ways of thinking about the complexity of suburban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scale is a contested concept in human geography fostering debates and contestation that have escalated to the point where some have argued for the term to be expunged from the geographical lexicon. Yet, despite the importance of scale in the geography of religion, the scalar debates in human geography have only rarely penetrated the conceptual base of the sub-discipline. This article addresses the scale debate through a case study of adherents in three churches in West Virginia, USA. The study explores these highly theoretical scalar issues through an empirical analysis of adherents, congregations and denominational leaders. A critical realist framework of emergence is used to demonstrate the value of a stratified, non-reductionist approach to the geography of religion. An emergent geography of religion is considered alongside other forms of religious social analysis such as poststructural 'crossings and dwellings' and actor network theory, and the role of critical realism in the broader scale debates in geography is evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. Rural Muslims' lives have received less attention than those of their urban counterparts in secular liberal democracies. Muslims' experiences of rural regions are characterised by a visible absence on the one hand, but a physical presence on the other. In this paper, the concept of the subterranean is invoked to understand the negotiation between superficial absences and physical presence. Conscious of the clandestine associations of the subterranean, it is argued that this illustrates a tactical making-do with limited resources rather than self-segregation. It is concluded that absences and presence in rural multiculturalism are complex, contingent and have a temporal nature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores various ways of how to challenge the “otherness” of Islam and Muslims when teaching geography of Islam. It suggests a critical project of “teaching against culture,” which challenges essentializing notions of Islam as a monolith, and rather demonstrates the complexity of Muslim geographies and “lived” Islam. Furthermore, it implies examining the various identity categories and binaries such as secular–religious and West–East that come about in the classroom itself in the secular academic context of an urban state university. As such, the article engages in questions of significance to a wider set of courses on social and cultural geographies, geography of religion, and postcolonial geographies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews the corpus of research that attempts to explain the process of religious conversion, and explores the ways in which geographers can add new perspectives to the discourse. It argues that religious conversion is a phenomenon that goes beyond the reorientation of individual belief, and is instead a process of change that involves the (re)definition of self and other. Five conceptual frames are proposed – (1) conversion of space; (2) spaces of conversion; (3) spaces of negotiation; (4) the (im)mobile convert; and (5) the (dis)embodied convert – which are used to help define the geographies of religious conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study looks at the past and present of Yoginī worship in Benares (Vārāasī, Kāśī). Textual sources from the twelfth century seem to indicate that the important religious center on the Ganges had a hypaethral sanctuary dedicated to this group of tantric goddesses at the beginning of the second millennium. The somewhat later Kāśīkhaa, the most important hymnic text on the mythology and religious topography of the city, can be read as describing and at the same time facilitating the gradual blending of an esoteric cult into the broader religious stream of an urban, devotionalized Śāktism. The second part of the study takes a closer look at the Causahī Devī temple, the main site connected with Yoginī worship in contemporary Benares. Finally, three other places are described that local (traditional) scholars, in their publications, have indicated as Yoginī-related sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the official journal of Mexico's Episcopal Methodist Church: El Abogado Cristiano Ilustrado, were published several scientific articles between 1885 and 1910 that shared the same religious believes of its readers. Geography is one of the sciences that stand out in this periodical publication and was talked about in Biblical readings; Sacred History and the Church massive missionary activities, especially does held in Africa. The articles published during this period also had a relation with issues of the Methodist school, the activities of the temples, and broaden evangelic propaganda. The historic studies on the specifics in the articles during this time, allows us to increase the research about the geographical society and culture of Mexico at the end of the xix Century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mormons, Adventists, and Witnesses have all felt called to take their teachings to the world and have experienced growth. However, they have varied considerably in both their geographic spread-where they have developed a presence over time-and also in where they have been more successful numerically. The result is sharply differing profiles: Adventists are concentrated more in the developing world; Witnesses and Mormons are proportionately stronger in the developed world, but in different parts of it. Within countries, Witnesses and Mormons are more urban, while Adventists are more concentrated in rural regions; Adventists also tend to be poorer than Witnesses and especially practicing Mormons. The article explores why these differing patterns developed, expanding on a recently developed theoretical model by Cragun and Lawson that religious growth depends on the synchronization of supply and demand and their corresponding components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses political conditions in Palestine as of 2012, with a focus on the region's importance to the Arab culture and the religion of Islam. Topics include the history of Palestine in the twentieth century; the social effects of the Intifada revolt which began in 1987; and the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict between Muslims and Jews.

This article analyses the relationship between the tumultuous religious changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the landscape of the British Isles. It examines the immediate impact and long-term cultural repercussions of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations on perceptions of and practices associated with the natural world and physical environment, as well as the influence exerted by intellectual and cultural trends associated with developments in science, medicine, and antiquarianism. Reformed theology fundamentally undermined traditional assumptions about the presence of the sacred in the material universe, but the religious ruptures of the era were tempered and complicated by elements of continuity and movements of counter-reaction. Springs, trees, stones, and other notable topographical landmarks retained powerful religious resonances after the Reformation. Potent reminders of the pre-Reformation past, they also provided a stimulus to the making of new myths and legends and acted as catalysts of the transformation of social memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a report from a February 8-10, 2012 conference in Bochum, Germany on spatial aspects of religion. Topics of presentations given included localizations and geographic theories of Christian and Islamic authors in the 8th to 12th centuries, religious diversity in the Roman Empire, and portrayals of Buddhist monks in the writings of Pyrrho and Megasthenes.

This article analyses the relationship between the tumultuous religious changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the landscape of the British Isles. It examines the immediate impact and long-term cultural repercussions of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations on perceptions of and practices associated with the natural world and physical environment, as well as the influence exerted by intellectual and cultural trends associated with developments in science, medicine, and antiquarianism. Reformed theology fundamentally undermined traditional assumptions about the presence of the sacred in the material universe, but the religious ruptures of the era were tempered and complicated by elements of continuity and movements of counter-reaction. Springs, trees, stones, and other notable topographical landmarks retained powerful religious resonances after the Reformation. Potent reminders of the pre-Reformation past, they also provided a stimulus to the making of new myths and legends and acted as catalysts of the transformation of social memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to state wievpoint of Quran to riza concept. In this comprehension we looked at the verses that existed riza concept. Our article consist of four tittle; riza of Allah, riza of human and other subjects related with riza and Mystical formats of riza. Thus we made an effort to determine riza concept that existed related to who and how matter in Quran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the experience of theorizing sacred space through field practice as part of a fieldtrip to Barcelona. In particular, it focuses on the critical analysis of different approaches to sacred space as applied to various sites in the city. The article opens with a brief review of three mainstream approaches to sacred space: the 'structuralist', the 'postmodern' and the 'more-than-representational'. It then reflects on the limits of and possibilities opened by these approaches in a fieldwork exercise and on students' responses to sacred space. It concludes with some critical comments in the light of students' feedback and suggestions for possible further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the summary of a conference that focused on Roman religion in the Mediterranean region during the time of the Roman republic that was held February 14-15, 2001 in Bielefeld, Germany. Topics under discussion at the conference included an analysis of the differences in the various ancient world views, a comparison of Greek and Roman religious imagery during the time of the Roman republic, as well as the use of religious power in the Roman republic.

Landscape historians are still debating medieval perceptions of the natural landscape. Meanwhile, recent studies of pilgrimage have focused on the pilgrimage as a moving sacred space, cut off from, and even potentially in conflict with, the cultures through which the pilgrim passes. A study of natural imagery in Welsh poetry to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys suggests a more engaged approach. There is a clear sense of place and the natural environment in descriptions of both the route and the shrine, presenting the natural world as blessing rather than challenge. This paper does not suggest anything 'Celtic' in the use of nature imagery - the chthonic element is important in Marian shrines in both Eastern and Western traditions: but there are parallels in Welsh poetry to other Marian shrines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the representation of purgatory in the drama "Hamlet" by author William Shakespeare in order to associate it with the Icelandic volcano of Mount Hecla. The author reflects on the relationship between supernatural geographies and cartographic sensibilities in the early modern period. Topics discussed include locating purgatory as a physical place in geography, differing theological positions on the nature of divine justice, and the inherent political dangers in representing purgatory on the Elizabethan stage during an era of Protestant reform and anti-Catholic fervor.

This article discusses the general relationship that exists between the geographic space in which a population event or other source of culturally important dynamics occurs and the ability of historians to accurately discern the exact correlation and meaning that existed at the time between the geographic and social variables. Specifically, an examination is done of the religious beliefs of the inhabitants of the Lys Valley in the area between the towns of Aire and Comines in Belgium during the Middle Ages.

The paper evaluates the burst in geographical research on religion in the last decade. It examines: (1) the relative emphases and silences in analyses of different sites of religious practice, sensuous geographies, population constituents, religions, geographies and scales of analyses; (2) the rise in the discourse of postsecularization; and (3) four contemporary global shifts (growing urbanization and social inequality, deteriorating environments, ageing populations, and increasing human mobilities), the ways in which religion shapes human response to them, and the implications for new research agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]