Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces

by Pahl, Jon

• ISBN13: 9781606083970
• ISBN10: 160608397X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-29
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

In Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces, Jon Pahl looks at the American tendency to assign sacred function to secular spaces from Disneyland to the neighborhood shopping mall. This "spatial theology" can work to our benefit, but often it poses spiritual risks. In response to these risks, Pahl introduces a theology of place that reveals aspects of God's character through familiar biblical metaphors such as the "true vine," "the rock," and the "living water." This book creatively applies biblical theology to cultural obsessions, illuminating our American way of hallowing spaces of all kinds. It's an ideal guide for readers seeking a greater knowledge of God through place.

Author Biography

Jon Pahl teaches theology and is an associate professor of American religious history at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 9
Discovering God	p. 15
Does God Wear Clothes?	p. 17
The Fashion System	p. 19
Fashions for God	p. 25
Clothing God and Human Suffering	p. 34
Seeking Sacred Places	p. 41
Letting Be and Taking Place	p. 45
Two Films: The Christian Problem	p. 48
Poetics, Politics, and Pilgrims	p. 53
The Shopping Mall as "Stairway to Heaven," Leading Nowhere	p. 65
The Religion of the Market	p. 67
Shopping Malls as Sacred Places	p. 70
True Shopping? Pilgrimage to the Mall of America	p. 75
Worshiping the Golden Mouse: Walt Disney World and American Civil Religion	p. 83
A Mickey Mouse Mecca	p. 85
The "Magic" Unveiled: Selling Denials of Death	p. 90
"Magic" as Control: The Inevitable Failure of Corporate Reassurance	p. 95
Private Possessions: American Domestic Religion and the Suburban Household	p. 103
American Domestic Religion	p. 106
The Demons of Tidiness and Toro	p. 108
The Public Shame of Private Theologies	p. 116
God Naked: The Violence of Banality and the Crisis of Affordable Housing in America	p. 121
The Desire to Acquire	p. 123
The Violence of Banality	p. 127
The Crisis of Affordable Housing in America	p. 130
God's Clothing	p. 139
Living Waters	p. 141
The Waters of Eden	p. 143
The Flood of Justice	p. 150
Clothed with Compassion	p. 156
The Light of the World	p. 163
The Energy of Grace	p. 165
The Refiner's Fire	p. 169
The Color of Wisdom	p. 173
The Rock of Salvation	p. 181
Permanent Gift	p. 184
The Challenge, Temptation, and Task of Being "Landed"	p. 187
Wonderful Life	p. 192
The True Vine	p. 199
The Tree of Life: God as Life-Bearer	p. 203
Fruitful yet Fragile	p. 208
Greening Power and "the Flesh"	p. 213
One Body	p. 219
The Anima of Animals	p. 222
Limits and Liberation	p. 228
One Body	p. 232
Cities of God	p. 239
Cities of Peace and Plenty	p. 245
A "Society of Aliens" and an Abundance of Friends	p. 249
"A Harmonious Unity in Plurality"	p. 253
Epilogue Pilgrims' Process: Salvation by Grace through Place	p. 259
Notes	p. 263
Photo Credits	p. 281
Index (including biblical references)	p. 284
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