Faith on the Avenue

I have anticipated Katie Day's book from the moment in 2010 that I viewed the narrated slideshow that showcases her research of religion in an urban context. The culmination of eight years of research (2004–2012) among the 80 or so congregations along Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Faith on the Avenue advances the argument that “communities of faith are crucial participants in the dynamic urban ecology” (208). The book arrives at this conclusion through a discussion of how congregations construct sacred space, by considering the economic and social contributions of congregations, and by paying attention to contested boundaries of religious identity construction among Pentecostals and Muslims. Along the way, the social diversity along the street comes to life through the combination of visual, demographic, and ethnographic description. Faith on the Avenue advances scholarship on congregations in four ways. First, Day's project reminds readers that religion is visual, and our research techniques should reflect that fact. From the beginning of the book to its concluding pages, readers are provided access to the ecology of Germantown Avenue through photographs made by Day's friend, Edd Conboy, whom Day describes as “a therapist as well as a gifted photographer” (xi). While too little is said in the book about the photographs from a methodological point of view, the images afforded Day “a different perspective on the familiar streetscape” during fieldwork, and they introduce rich layers of visual information that help the reader consider the history, urbanity, diversity, and religious life that comprise Germantown Avenue (xi). I think Day could have gotten more out her visual data, for example, by discussing specific images, making visual comparisons, and using them more explicitly to construct an argument or explanation instead of allowing the photos (and their captions) to speak for themselves. This assessment, however, is not intended to undermine the compelling ways in which images help to document and describe religious belief, behavior, and belonging in an urban context. Conboy's photographs offer a visual pathway into the world Day describes in words.

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Context (archaeology) · Diversity (politics) · Epistemology · Ethnography · Faith · Identity (music) · Scholarship · Sociology · Anthropology · History · Law · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability