Place Attachment in the Bible: The Role of Attachment to Sacred Places in Religious Life

Abstract

This paper examines the role of place attachment in religious life by analyzing various significant place events in the Bible, using analysis of biblical discourse. The paper looks at various biblical places, and explores the implications of approaching these sacred settings in terms of place attachment theory. In the Old Testament we focus on Mount Sinai, Canaan, and Jerusalem, and in the New Testament on Galilee, Jerusalem, and on view that Christianity, to some extent, transcends place attachment. The nature of the attachments to these places is diverse and varied. The claim is that place attachment theory can make a valuable theoretical contribution to an analysis of the role of place in the Bible, as an addition to the growing literature on the psychological interpretation of the Bible.

The Role of Spirituality in Promoting Sense of Place Among Foreigners of African Background in the Netherlands

“…This means that migrants' PA did not come about as a result of any negative experience with God. Most importantly, this finding reveals the role of spiritual attachment in strengthening PA (Counted, 2018;Counted & Watts, 2017;Counted & Zock, in press).…”

“…Although the above-mentioned studies highlight the causes and consequences of SOP, only a few offer initial empirical evidence that support the role of spirituality in human interactions with the environment (e.g., Kamitsis & Francis, 2013;Trigwell, Francis, Bagot, 2014), while others offer theoretical insights on the role of spirituality on SOP (e.g. Counted, 2018;Counted & Watts, 2017;Counted & Zock, in press). These studies emphasize the role of spirituality in managing stressors associated with a place, thus conceptualizing places as distal dynamic contexts of social interaction that contribute to spiritual interconnectedness.…”

Place Attachment Abdi Dan Masyarakat Terhadap Puri Ubud Di Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali

“…Keterikatan pada suatu tempat dapat berfungsi sebagai ikatan afektif yang memberikan kepuasan terhadap kebutuhan individu dan terpenuhinya tempat yang aman dan nyaman (Counted & Watts, 2017) yang dipengaruhi oleh faktor individu, komunitas, dan lingkungan, serta berfungsi sebagai daya tarik menuju ke dalam hubungan simbolis dengan suatu tempat (Mina & Kamal, 2012). Selain itu, place attachment dibentuk sebagai hasil interkoneksi antara fitur fisik, aktivitas, dan makna melalui pengalaman pengguna di suatu tempat, karena pada dasarnya manifestasi fisik arsitektur mengakomodasi aktivitas manusia.…”

“…Pada kasus tempat-tempat bersejarah dapat menciptakan rasa berkesinambungan dengan masa lalu, mewujudkan tradisi masyarakat (Hay, 1998 dalam Nurhijrah, 2015a), serta ditambahkan oleh Altman & Low (1992) dapat menciptakan keterikatan terhadap tempat. Selain itu, keberadaan tempat sakral dan bernilai Ketuhanan (spiritual value) juga memiliki korelasi dengan place attachment seseorang (Counted & Watts, 2017 Berdasarkan hasil penelitian (Gambar 3), variabel place identity menunjukkan bahwa Puri Saren Agung Ubud mampu memberikan makna yang sangat kuat kepada abdi, yaitu sebesar 100% dan 87,5% bagi masyarakat, walaupun ikatan abdi lebih kuat dibanding masyarakat yaitu masing-masing sebesar 100% dan 62,5%. Merujuk pada temuan Relph (1976) dan Tuan (1977) dalam Najafi & Kamal (2011b) bahwa makna yang terkait dengan tempat adalah komponen signifikan dari pengalaman tempat.…”

Attachment theory and religious violence: theorizing adult religious psychopathology

“…However, Cicirelli (1991a;1991b) has maintained that when adults are separated from their primary caregivers for a long period, a surrogate attachment figure emerges as part of the working model where the adult becomes drawn to an object of attachment that represents the primary caregiver. This symbolic attachment motivates adults to develop religious beliefs in which they perceive a relationship with God or a religious figure as a symbolic attachment -exhibiting attachment religious behaviour in the form of prayer, devotion to a sacred space, reading religious texts, rituals, and so on, to maintain the relationship (Williams & Watts 2014;Ellison et al 2015;Counted & Watts 2017). This symbolic attachment is a representation of a primary caregiver who is unavailable to the individual.…”