This semester we will investigate the ways that practical concerns of daily living in the city as well as fears, desires, and nostalgia shape religion in the city. We begin by addressing how religious groups and institutions shape neighborhoods or districts, and analyze the contributions of religious institutions, histories and theologies to these urban regions. We will then address the ways that religious communities interact with each other as they share space or contest the boundaries of neighborhoods, analyzing how religious groups can foster both civic participation and social violence and disruption. Next, we will consider the various public settings wherein religious language, practice, and performance take place. We will then turn to the ways that religions in the city are shaped by new patterns of migration and globalization. Finally, we turn to focus specifically on the ways that “the city” is imagined, “read” and remembered through religious memory and social action.
This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.
Courtney BenderAuthor
Columbia UniversityInstitution
Private College or University Institution Type
Syllabus Resource Type
Undergraduate Course Class Type
2006 Date Published
Religious Studies Discipline
General Comparative Traditions, Islam Religous Tradition
Immigration/Refugees, Race/Ethnicity, Region/Urban/Rural Topics