Drawing upon the tools of spatial analysis, this study examines varieties of sacred space crafted at Stone Mountain Park, near Atlanta, Georgia. The focus on spatial aspects of religious practices at Stone Mountain grounds three over-arching methodological objectives of the thesis. The first is to further develop and extend spatial analysis within the academic study of religion. The second objective is to illustrate the need to expand the parameters of the contested term religion and its correlate sacred space to reflect the variety of social practices that fall outside the domains of traditionally conceived religious or sacred structures and locations. The third objective is to explore connecting threads between spatial analysis of religious practices and religious identity formation. Taken together, these three objectives provide an interpretative framework for five case studies examining the spatial history of the location, the emplacement of the Lost cause mythology at the site, differences between the decades old Easter sunrise service, and a more recent Via Crucis pilgrimage on Good Friday, the emergence of contemporary New Age spiritual practices on the monadnock, and the cultivation of a corporate religion during an extended Christmas holiday season marketed at the park. The project concludes with an exploration of areas of convergence between spatial analysis in religious studies and consideration of the relevance of place to religious identity formation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:759627 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Bradley, Michael T. |
| Publisher | University of Wales Trinity Saint David |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/959/ |
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