Urban Religious Change at the Neoliberal Frontier: Notes toward a Spatial Analysis of a Contemporary Filipino Vernacular Catholicism

Abstract

This article sketches a theoretical point of departure for a spatial analysisof a contemporary Filipino vernacular Catholicism. Based on materialsfrom religious studies, the sociology of religion, and ethnographic andhistorical materials, it focuses on the new neoliberal spatial dynamicsof Manila and the extent to which recent shifts in its spatial constitutionmight be correlated with shifts in the sites and occasions of contemporaryCatholicism, and in particular with the emergence of El Shaddai. It asks: Ifincreasingly the neoliberal city is eviscerated of public and civic spaces, canEl Shaddai serve to revitalize and reenchant the city?

KEYWORDS: Filipino Catholicism • Religious Change • Neoliberalism • Spatial Analysis • El Shaddai • Urban Reenchantment