Religion, Place and Attachment: An Evaluation of Conceptual Frameworks

Abstract

This chapter explores conceptual frameworks used for assessing the links between religious and place attachment and the role they play as objects of attachment and alternate security systems in everyday life. The first section of this chapter explores the complexities of adult attachment theory involving religious attachment in terms of relationship experiences with God. In the second section I explored the multidimensionality of people–place relationship experiences in relation to the sense of place theory. In the third section I explored the similarities between these two surrogate relationships as correlates of interpersonal attachment—a framework originally developed by John Bowlby and colleagues. Lastly, the relationship between religious and place attachment is discussed based on three conceptual models: compensation versus correspondence model of attachment; motivational systems theory; and self-ecological model. I discussed the distinctiveness and applications of these conceptual frameworks.