Nineteenth-century urbanization as sacred process: insights from German Strasbourg.

Publisher: Sage Publications Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 100968114 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0096-1442 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00961442 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Urban Hist

Original Publication: [Beverly Hills, Calif.] Sage Publications.

Cities*/economics ; Cities*/ethnology ; Cities*/history ; Cities*/legislation & jurisprudence ; Religion*/history ; Residence Characteristics*/history ; Urban Population*/history ; Urbanization*/history ; Urbanization*/legislation & jurisprudence; Demography/economics ; Demography/history ; Demography/legislation & jurisprudence ; Germany/ethnology ; History, 19th Century ; Social Change/history

This article examines a crucial site for modernity’s encounter with religion during the long nineteenth century, albeit one largely ignored both by religious and urban historians: the modern big city. Drawing on evidence from Strasbourg, which joined the ranks of Germany’s big cities soon after the Franco-Prussian War, it points out first, that urbanization had a significant urban dimension. It altered the absolute and relative size of the city’s faith communities, affected the confessional composition of urban neighborhoods, and prompted faith communities to mark additional parts of the urban landscape as sacred. Second, while urban growth—both demographic and physical—frequently challenged traditional understandings of religious community, it also facilitated the construction of new understandings of piety and community, especially via voluntary organizations and the religious media. Thereby, urbanization emerged as a key force behind sacralization in city and countryside as the nineteenth century ended and the twentieth began.

Date Created: 20111217 Date Completed: 20121002 Latest Revision: 20191112

20221213

10.1177/0096144211413229

22171407