Urban Religion

In the early years of urban studies (urban sociology took shape in the 1920s and consolidated in the post–World War II era; urban anthropology emerged in the 1960s), few scholars paid much attention to religion in modern/modernizing cities, especially in Europe and North America, but also elsewhere across the globe. Into the 1970s, the role of religion in cities was not a central issue in urban studies, as many researchers seemed to assume that religion, religiosities, and spiritual activities would slowly disappear in cities. Indeed, some mainstream Christian congregations in North America, and even more in Europe, struggled with dwindling numbers, which seemed to suggest a more comprehensive decline of urban religion. Some churches closed, while others quietly adjusted to smaller congregations. Many mainstream Christian communities tried to accommodate the changing times by incorporating new pop cultural elements, different media, and other features into their congregations. In the 1970s, new religious communities (often founded by immigrants) and spiritual movements (e.g., “New Age” movements) emerged. Many grew rapidly and flourished. The arrival of millions of rural to urban and transnational im/migrants to cities and diverse spiritual quests often rooted in countercultural movements of the 1960s remade urban spiritual geographies. New religious venues, emerging spiritual practices, diverse faith traditions, new congregations of global faith traditions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism), New Age spiritualism, and revivalist and charismatic religious movements localized in North American and European cities. Cities all over the globe witnessed diverse revivalist movements and the emergence of charismatic religious leaders and new mass religious movements. While religion had obviously never left cities, in the final decades of the 20th century, urban religion had become more visible. When diverse pious individuals and groups asked for their rights in the city, insisted on faith-based participation, and challenged the secular nature of global/globalizing cities, it became clear that individual pieties, religious communities, and faith-inspired activities continued to play relevant roles in cities. Established urban religious communities absorbed newcomers, new religiosities, and faith-based socialities. New modes of meeting, worshipping, and religious learning remade existing spiritual geographies. These transformations and the renewed visibility of religion triggered considerable scholarly interest in dynamic urban religions, spiritual activities, and geographies. By the 1990s, a growing number of scholars of various disciplinary backgrounds (sociology, anthropology, geography, religious studies) studied emerging and changing urban religious communities, individual pieties, and the localization of new/immigrant faith communities. At the dawn of the 21st century, the study of urban religions, urban religious cultures, and the role of religion and religiosities in ordinary urbanites’ lives gained momentum as scholars analyzed the transformations of globalized urban spiritual expressions, the localization of new faith-based communities, and the transformation of established congregations. Researchers started to challenge notions of the secular nature of contemporary cities and to reevaluate the role of religion in globalizing cities.