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Landscape

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Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions

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Related Terms

Cosmology; Ritual; Temples

Religions have persistent impact on the landscape they are situated in. The mutual integration of the cosmology and mythology of a religion with the geographical landscape alters believers’ attitude towards both religion and landscape. The invisible, transempirical side of religion is supplemented by manifestations that make religion perceptually available for the believers. The visible, physical landscape manifests invisible aspects of religion, and thereby landscape supports religion as a shared and accepted part of human life. This mutual integration can take different forms (Hirsch and O’Hanlon 1995).

The landscape is organized by imposing meaning onto it through situating cosmology or mythological events in it, thereby establishing religious landmarks in the landscape that give a cosmological order to it. Such places are often the location for rich ritual activity, sites of pilgrimage, or believed to be the location of a religious source of...

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References

  • Bender, B. (Ed.). (1993). Landscape, politics and perspectives. Providence: Berg.

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  • Hirsch, E., & O’Hanlon, M. (Eds.). (1995). The anthropology of landscape: Perspectives on place and space. Oxford: Clarendon.

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  • Low, S. M., & Lawrence-Zúñiga, D. (Eds.). (2003). The anthropology of space and place: Locating culture. Malden: Blackwell.

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  • Stump, R. W. (2008). The Geography of Religion: Faith, Place, and Space. Rowman: Littlefield Publishers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arts, Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 5, Aarhus C, DK, 8000, Denmark

    Jesper Østergaard

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  1. Jesper Østergaard
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Correspondence to Jesper Østergaard .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anne L. C. Runehov

  2. Pontificia Universita Antonianum, Roma, Italia

    Lluis Oviedo

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Østergaard, J. (2013). Landscape. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_141

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_141

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8264-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8265-8

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