Lecture by Dean Martha Bradley, Honors College

Recorded: May 11, 2011

Some groups of religious individuals feel compelled to build spatial worlds that embody their religious belief. The Oneida, the Shakers, and the FLDS, among other communal religious groups, construct architecture and towns that are the physical manifestation of intangibles—belief in God, the meaning of our relationships with each other and the earth, and rituals designed to evoke the powers of heaven. What results are distinctive life practices and rituals, boundaries, buildings, and systems of streets and open fields that hold particular meaning for the members of the group. This study looks for gestures, patterns, and meaning in these building efforts in the effort to understand the lives of religious people.