Geographical approaches to religion in the past

This review assesses (anglophone) cross-disciplinary
research that has used geographical methodologies to study
religion in the past. It identifies three prominent themes
within the existing literature: the spatalisation of religion, the
intersections between religion and built environments, and
the relationships between religion and physical landscapes.
It argues that the application of geographical approaches to
the study of religion in the past has made important contributions
to feminist and postcolonial attempts to de-centre
religious leaders and social elites. However, it also demonstrates
that the existing literature has been fundamentally
informed by inherently modern and western definitions of
religion. Primarily, it identifies how the existing literature has
prioritised the study of institutionalised Abrahamic religions,
emphasised the analysis of sacred-secular dichotomies, and
assumed that religious affiliation involves personal belief
and spiritual encounter. In response, this paper calls for
geographical approaches to religion in the past to engage
with a more diverse range of subjects and use network or
assemblage approaches to challenge modern and western
assumptions about religious practices and experiences.