Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces: Putting God in Place

By Jon Pahl

Book Overview

Christian historian Sidney Mead has observed: ""In America space has played the part that time has played in older cultures of the world."" In Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces, Jon Pahl examines... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587430452
• ISBN13: 9781587430459
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Brazos Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Best book on space and meaning

The author takes the reader on a tour of the Mall of America, Disney World, and the suburban home and shows how each of these places communicate a whole world of desire. Of course, these places provide fun, entertainment, and comfort. Yet, these places also provide a different kind of world than say, the world depicted in the most grace filled texts of grace. So how do we reconcile what these very worldly places communicate and a faith filled, theological understanding of the Kingdom of God? This book is rare in that it is deeply theological and at the same time highly accessible and personal. Pahl does serious research but it is based on lived experience (you go with his family to the Mall of America). Ever wonder why malls make you "want to buy" or give you a headache or make you think really hard as to where you parked your car? Or how about this, how is the desire the Kingdom of Disney provokes different, strategically different, than the Kingdom of God? Read the book. Perfect for your own reading, or study it as part of a book club, or get your adult education church group to take a look. You'll learn.