A ‘geographer of the soul’: James M. Houston’s voyage from geography to theology

IF 1.3 4区社会学 Q2 GEOGRAPHY

Scottish Geographical Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-30 DOI:10.1080/14702541.2022.2125562

C. Philo

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the year of his 100th birthday, this contribution considers the unusual story of Scottish geographer James Macintosh Houston (1922-). Following his passage from undergraduate geographer at the University of Edinburgh to postdoctorate and then lecturer in geography at the University of Oxford, aspects of Houston’s approach to geography – increasingly a cultural-historical geography, sometimes framed by him as the ‘history of ideas’ – are reconstructed. Narrating his dramatic change of career circa 1970, from academic geographer at Oxford to academic and practising theologian at Regent College, Vancouver, continuities are uncovered between Houston’s geography and his theology. Particular attention is paid to his pioneering essay from 1978, the only one obviously directed back to geography from his new theological orbit, and one that should arguably be better-known as a profound statement of a humanistic geography critical of humanity becoming drawn into an abusive relationship with the world predicated on abstracted space rather than meaningful place(s). Drawing upon the example of Houston, reflections are offered on the relations between ‘geographical theology’ and ‘theological geography’.

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“灵魂地理学家”：詹姆斯·M·休斯顿从地理学到神学的历程

摘要在他100岁生日之际，这篇文章讲述了苏格兰地理学家詹姆斯·麦金托什-休斯顿（1922-）的不同寻常的故事。在他从爱丁堡大学的地理学家本科生到牛津大学的地理学博士后和讲师之后，休斯顿的地理学方法——越来越成为一种文化历史地理学，有时被他定义为“思想史”——的各个方面都得到了重建。讲述了他1970年左右职业生涯的戏剧性转变，从牛津大学的学术地理学家到温哥华摄政学院的学术和实践神学家，揭示了休斯顿的地理和神学之间的连续性。人们特别关注他1978年的开创性文章，这是唯一一篇明显从他新的神学轨道回到地理学的文章，可以说，这篇文章更为人所知，因为它深刻地阐述了一种人文地理学，批评人类被拉入与以抽象空间而非有意义的地方为基础的世界的虐待关系。以休斯顿为例，对“地理神学”与“神学地理学”的关系进行了反思。

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来源期刊

Scottish Geographical Journal GEOGRAPHY-

CiteScore

1.80

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Scottish Geographical Journal is the learned publication of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and is a continuation of the Scottish Geographical Magazine, first published in 1885. The Journal was relaunched in its present format in 1999. The Journal is international in outlook and publishes scholarly articles of original research from any branch of geography and on any part of the world, while at the same time maintaining a distinctive interest in and concern with issues relating to Scotland. “The Scottish Geographical Journal mixes physical and human geography in a way that no other international journal does. It deploys a long heritage of geography in Scotland to address the most pressing issues of today."