First as Sociology, Then as Geography

A Review Essay on Steven Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus’s New Age Spiritualities: Rethinking Religion

Authors

  • Justin K. H. Tse University of Washington

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v44i1.26862

Keywords:

New Age Spiritualities, Religion, Critical Geography, Sociology, Ideology

Abstract

This essay reviews Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus's New Age Spiritualities: Rethinking Religion. It shows that their attempt to redefine religion through new age spiritualities is actually an attempt to impose an economically elite social geography onto religious studies as a social fact. My central argument is that this effort in turn reveals that religious studies serves as a sociological factory for liberal economic ideologies. It suggests that to mitigate this ideological work, a shift toward critical geography in religious studies is the way forward.

Author Biography

  • Justin K. H. Tse, University of Washington

    Justin K. H. Tse is Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, USA.

References

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Published

2015-04-07

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Tse, J. (2015). First as Sociology, Then as Geography: A Review Essay on Steven Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus’s New Age Spiritualities: Rethinking Religion. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 44(1), 39-43. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v44i1.26862