Postsecular Cities Space, Theory and Practice

This book reflects the wide-spread belief that the twenty-first century is evolving in a significantly different way to the twentieth, which witnessed the advance of human rationality and technological progress, including urbanisation, and called into question the public and cultural significance of religion. In this century, by contrast, religion, faith communities and spiritual values have returned to the centre of public life, especially public policy, governance, and social identity. Rapidly diversifying urban locations are the best places to witness the emergence of new spaces in which religions and spiritual traditions are creating both new alliances but also bifurcations with secular sectors. Postsecular Cities examines how the built environment reflects these trends. Recognizing that the 'turn to the postsecular' is a contested and multifaceted trend, the authors offer a vigorous, open but structured dialogue between theory and practice, but even more excitingly, between the disciplines of human geography and theology. Both disciplines reflect on this powerful but enigmatic force shaping our urban humanity. This unique volume offers the first insight into these interdisciplinary and challenging debates.

Preface, David Ley \ Introduction: Rise of the Post Secular City, Justin Beaumont and Christopher Baker \ Part I: Mapping the Theoretical Terrain \ 1. Postsecular Cities and Radical Critique: A Philosophical Sea-change? Gregor McLennan \ Part II: Competing Experiences of Postsecular Cities \ 2 Postcolonialism and Religion: New Spaces of ‘Belonging and Becoming' in the Postsecular City, Christopher Baker and Justin Beaumont \ 3. Market Theory, Market Theology: The Business of the Church in the City, Robbie B. H. Goh \ 4.Nonsecular Cities? Visual and Sound Representations of the Religious-Secular Right to the City in Jerusalem, Tovi Fenster \ 5. Spirituality, Urban Life and Urban Professions, Leonie Sandercock and Maged Senbel \ 6. A Feminist Critique of the Postsecular City: God and Gender, Clara Greed \ 7. Sanctuaries of Urban Sociability: learning from Edo-Tokyo, Anni Greve \ Part III: Postsecular Policies and Praxis \ 8. From Race to Religion: Multiculturalism and Contested Urban Space, John Eade \ 9 Public Pasts in Plural Societies: Models for Management in the Postsecular City, Greg Ashworth \ 10. Understanding Faith Based Engagement and Volunteering in the Postsecular Society: Motivations, Reationales and Translation, Rachael Chapman and Leila Hamaleinen \ 11. Exploring the Postsecular State: The Case of Amsterdam, Nynke de Witte \ Part IV: Theological and Secular Interpretations \ 12. On Christianity as Truly Public, Angus Paddison \ 13. Inhabiting the Good City: The Politics of Hate and the Urbanisms of Hope, Elaine Graham and Andrew Davey \ 14. Emerging Postsecular Rapprochement in the Contemporary City, Paul Cloke \ Postsecular Cities: Afterword, Christopher Baker and Justin Beaumont \ Index