Spaces for the Sacred

A sense of 'place' in relation to human identity preoccupies a wide range of writers from philosophers and anthropologists to architects and contemporary novelists. This preoccupation reflects a sense of rootlessness dislocation or displacement in Western cultures. Arguing that there is a significant connection between how we understand ourselves as human beings and the 'spaces for the sacred' which we encounter throughout the course of our lives. Philip Sheldrake brilliantly reveals the link between our rootedness in the places we inhabit and the construction of our personal and religious identities. He examines the sacred narratives which derive from both overtly religious sites such as cathedrals, and secular ones, like the Millennium Dome and suggests how Christian theological and spiritual traditions may contribute creatively to current debates about 'place'. Based on the Hulsean Lectures delivered at the University of Cambridge in 2000, this book offers ideas and perspectives rather than a systematic thesis and is aimed at both academic and non specialist audiences.