Course Syllabus

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Sacred Space and Place

Jacob N. Kinnard

Office: I-303, ext. 164

Office Hours: By appointment

Course Description

A common term in religious discourse is “sacred space.” One hears it used both in casual discussions and scholarly analysis. But what does this term actually mean? What constitutes the “sacred” as it relates to places and spaces? how does a place or space become and continue to be sacred? what sorts of rituals and religious practices are performed there? what are the mythological and social and historical particularities of a particular place or space? are all such places and spaces fundamentally the same or different?

These are only some of the questions that will inform our analysis and discussion of sacred space and place in this course. Through close readings and discussions of primary and secondary texts, we will attempt to articulate a comparative approach to sacred space and place; we will attempt to map out a basic theoretical and methodological approach to sacred space and place; and, finally, we will discuss what we get when we think compartively about such issues.

Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of this course are to enable students to pursue in greater depth research into sacred space and sacred place, two concepts that are emerging areas of study in religious studies and biblical studies. We also seek to enable students to develop their skills in comparative study, both by helping them gain a more sophisticated theoretical framework for such work and by working through specific religious sites that require critical spatial and social analysis. Finally, by team-teaching this course, we will explore and demonstrate ways in which religious studies more generally, and biblical studies more specifically, mutually enrich each other.

Required Texts

- Tim Cresswell, Place: A Short Introduction (London: Blackwell, 2004).

- Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).

- Jacob N. Kinnard, Places in Motion: The Fluid Identities of Temples, Images, and Pilgrims (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014),

Assignments

Weekly reading and class participation. All readings must be completed before class with sufficient time to allow each student to be prepared to discuss and engage the materials in class. In weeks 2-8, specific readings will be assigned to class members, who then will have responsibility for creating a summary of no more than one page, including identifying the central argument, methodology, evidence, and conclusions.

Essays. Three essays of 1500 words each, due in week three, week six, and week nine.

Evaluation and Grading

Class participation and discussion............................................................................ 25%

Essays..........................................................................................................................75%

Schedule 

22 March                    Introduction to the Course

  1. Jonathan Z. Smith, “Map is Not Territory,” in Map is not Territory: Studies in the History of Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), pp. 289-309.

29 March                    What is Place?

  1. Cresswell, Place: A Short Introduction (London: Blackwell, 2004).

5 April                       How and Why are Place and Space Sacred?

   1. R.A. Markus, “How on Earth Could Places Become Holy? Origins of the Christian Idea of Holy Places,” Journal of Early                         Christian Studies 2.3 (1994): 257-72; 2. J.Z. Smith, “The Topography of the Sacred,” Jonathan Z. Smith, "The Topography of the Sacred," Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 101-116.

   First Essay Due on 7 April 

For this essay, I'd like you to take a place - any place that has religious associations, something you will need to argue for - and analyze that place using one or more of the sources we have read. So, for instance, you might analyze Devils Tower using Smith, or the Vietnam Memorial using Cresswell, etc. The more you limit the scope of your discussion, the better.

 

How you analyze is something you must decide; think about, say, our discussion about social construction vs. ontology, or power, or origin vs. use. There are lots of possibilities.

12 April                      Let’s Get Theoretical

  1. Edward W. Soja, Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angles and Other Real- And-Imagined Places (London: Blackwell 1996), 1-23, 53-82; Andreas Huyssen, Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), 1-29.

19 April                     

  1. The Construction and Conception of Place

    1. Smith, To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).

26 April                      Shifting Places        

  1. 1. Jacob N. Kinnard, Places in Motion: The Fluid Identities of Temples, Images, and Pilgrims (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), ix-79.

3 May                                     Jerusalem  

  1. R. Friedland and R. Hecht, “The Politics of Sacred Place: Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/al-haram al-sharif,” in J. Scott and P. Simpson-Housley, Sacred Places and Profane Spaces: Essays in the Geographics of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), pp. 21-61. 2. Karen Armstrong, “Jerusalem: the problems and responsibilities of sacred space,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 13, no. 2 (2002): 189-96. 

10 May                       Shifting Places Part Two             

  1. 1. Jacob N. Kinnard, Places in Motion: The Fluid Identities of Temples, Images, and Pilgrims (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 80-192.

17 May                       No Class 

24 May                       TBA

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due