Public Religion and the Urban Environment: Constructing a River Town

Description

'Nature' and the 'city' have most often functioned as opposites within Western culture, a dichotomy that has been reinforced (and sometimes challenged) by religious images. Bohannon argues here that cities and natural environments, however, are both connected and continually affected by one another. He shows how such connections become overt during natural disasters, which disrupt the narratives people use to make sense of the world,including especially religious narratives, and make them more visible. This book offers both a theoretical exploration of the intersection of the city, nature, and religion, as well as a sociological analysis of the 1997 flood in Grand Forks, ND, USA. This case study shows how religious factors have influenced how the relationship between nature and the city is perceived, and in particular have helped to justify the urban control of nature. The narratives found in Grand Forks also reveal a broader understanding of the nature of Western cities, highlighting the potent and ethically-rich intersections between religion, cities and nature.

Richard Bohannon teaches at the College of St. Benedict & St. John's University, in central Minnesota, USA.

The author's examination of the religious images and narratives at work through out and after the disaster of the river flooding in Grand Forks reveals astonishing experiences of the both separate and interwoven views of the natural and the urban, the human and the divine. Inspiringly, the book explores in depth the role and significance of Christian narratives and images as normative tools in disaster management and urban ecological restoration. -- Sigurd Bergmann, Professor of Religious Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and former chair of the European Forum on the Study of Religion and the Environment. As we face increasing climate instability, this stunning study of the pressured relation between urban and nonhuman nature offers a non-apocalyptic prescience to ecological studies across the disciplines.Raising fresh questions about the role of religion in the interpretation of disaster,reconstruction, and human control, Bohannon's gripping narrative flows with the power of the river it follows. -- Catherine Keller, Professor of Constructive Theology, Graduate Division of Religion, Drew University, USA, and author of On the Mystery. Bohannonskillfully brings together the interdisciplinary conversations regardingreligion and cities, cities and nature, and religion and ecology as he tracesthe often mixed religious imagery regarding both cities and nature. Indeed, foranyone interested in these fields, as well as the cultural response to naturaldisasters, this book raises important questions as it explores expanding thesediscourses in a more complex direction. A well-written and fascinating study ofthe cultural perceptions that shape our sense of "acts of God" and "naturaldisasters", and what they reveal about our larger understanding of cities andnature and the desire to control nature. -- Laurel Kearns, Associate Professor of Sociology and Religion and Environmental Studies, Drew University, USA.