Ecologies of Faith in New York City

A New York Times article titled “On the 7 Train, Living the Multicultural Ideal” surveyed different ethnic enclaves at nearly every subway stop on the 7 subway train in Queens. Despite the formation of distinct groupings of ethnic populations along the stops on the 7 train, an organic intersection between ethnic groups takes place. For example, the fact that “an Indian woman buys Mexican tortillas in a Korean grocery store in a Turkish–Romanian–Irish neighborhood isn't unusual.” As evidenced by the constant shifting of neighborhoods and the exposure to various cultures, people adopt and adapt many cultures as their own. In this imaginative, rich, and thought-provoking study, Ecologies of Faith in New York City: The Evolution of Religious Institutions turns the symbiotic relationship between religious institutions and their geographical locations into methodological strengths. By arguing that it is exactly New York's complex, ecological narratives that represent the dynamics of urban religion, the authors add much-needed complexity to the development of religious institutions by highlighting not uniformity, but the mosaic that characterizes the shades of identities comprising the urban religion.

Epistemology · Ethnic group · Faith · Geography · Ideal (ethics) · Intersection (aeronautics) · Multiculturalism · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · Turkish · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious Tourism and Spaces