An elision of place in the Western intellectual tradition coincides, at least in the estimation of John Inge, with the dehumanising nature of the modern, secular world; he insists that modern anxiety, characteristic of a world bent on globalisation, ‘is a result of the dehumanising effects of loss of a sense of place’ (p. 35). On the other hand, Inge notes that recent phenomenological and psychological insights ‘represent a rising protest against the dehumanising effects of the ignoring of place in Western society’ (p. 17). Joining in this tide of protest, Inge adds a Christian theology of place to the debate.

Inge's theological reflections on the loss of place begin with his own personal experiences of sacred sites. These places pose for him a dilemma re-garding the heterogeneity of space in a monotheistic cosmology; he notes, for instance, that when contemplating casual references to Ely Cathedral as a ‘holy place’, ‘I began to wonder whether this implied that God approves of some places more than others – a proposition I found rather offensive’ (p. ix). As a result, Inge delves into the status of place within the Christian tradition. Along the way, he discovers its potential not only to revive the Christian community, but also to rescue Western society itself from its lost humanity.

Among the several important contributions that Inge's book offers is his analysis of the subordination of place in the Western intellectual tradition, first to space and then to time. Following a useful discussion of the distinction between space and place, Inge leads us through the history of these concepts, from Plato and Aristotle to contemporary postmodern critiques of modernity that include a recovery of the particularity of places. Inge's historical analysis emphasises a shift in Western thought from ‘place’ to ‘space’. He notes how the neoplatonic idea of a ‘spaceless spirit’ became determinative for Western understandings of a human soul, while at the same time the limitlessness of the Christian God became associated with spatial infinity. Moreover, changing conceptualisations of time, beginning in the late Middle Ages, further limited the importance of place.

This gradual disregard for place in Western society has had considerable implications for the Christian community, since, according to Inge's understanding of the tradition, place serves an essential role in the Christian heritage. Inge finds in scripture evidence for the decisive importance of place for Christianity. His reading of the Old Testament narrative suggests ‘first, that place is a fundamental category of human experience, and that, second, there is a threefold relationship between God, his people, and place’ (p. 46). Consequently, Inge advocates what he calls ‘a relational view of place’ based on Old Testament evidence that place remains ‘inextricably bound up with both God and humanity’ (p. 46).

The New Testament narrative continues this relational understanding of place; Inge writes in his typically awkward style, ‘I shall maintain that the question of the importance of place is one which looms large in the New Testament, particularly with regard to the centrality or otherwise of Jerusalem which had by New Testament times become central in Judaism's understanding of itself’ (p. 48). But the Christian notion of incarnation enlarges the importance of place beyond Old Testament relational understandings. ‘We might say, therefore’, Inge insists, ‘that it is clear from the incarnation that places are the seat of relations or the place of meeting and activity in the interaction between God and the world, and argue further that place is therefore a fundamental category of human and spiritual experience’ (p. 52). Even the Christian notion of salvation relies on place; the New Jerusalem of Revelation, central as it is to Christian identity, reveals that for Christians, ‘it is very difficult for us to imagine salvation in terms of anything other than place’ (p. 57).

In practice, the Christian tradition historically encourages a ‘sacramental’ view of place; Inge argues that the place of ‘sacramental events’ (i.e. human encounters with the divine) ‘is not merely a backdrop to the experience, but an integral part of it’ (p. x). This essential importance of place in sacramental encounters upholds Inge's relational view of place, ‘the biblical paradigm of people, place, and God’ (p. 90). Moreover, the sacramental perspective on place finds a salient example in the Christian practice of pilgrimage, ‘the phenomenon which has demonstrated the appreciation of place in the Christian tradition more than any other’ (p. 91); pilgrimage, according to Inge, demonstrates ‘that the Christian religion is not the religion of salvation from places, it is the religion of salvation in and through places’ (p. 92).

John Inge's book offers a valuable unveiling of place as an integral category in Christian traditions and in Western society. His suggestion, however, that the reintroduction of a biblical understanding of place can counteract the dehumanising force of modern globalisation deserves a sceptical response. Inge reveals a conservative, even reactionary agenda in his lament of Christianity's loss of influence in today's world, a loss that for him parallels the loss of place in Western discourse. ‘The Western world, which was once rooted in the Christian story, has lost those roots and, at the same time, lost any rootage in place’ (p. 137). Thus, it seems that for Inge, retrieving the importance of place translates into a recovery of Christianity's medieval heyday. Consequently, Inge's laudable goals abdicate any real effort at critical engagement with contemporary realities that give impetus to the forces of globalisation. Certainly, re-evaluating the role of place adds a valuable dimension to the critical discourse on globalisation. But to suggest, as Inge seems inclined to do, that Christian holy places should ‘serve as a reminder that all time and place belong to God in Christ’ (p. 90) leaves little room for non-Christian perspectives on place that may turn out to be powerful allies in resisting the dehumanising effects of globalisation.

The ‘Offering to the World’ that Inge serves up in his final chapter may prove too narrowly wedded to Christian assumptions to resonate with the majority of the world's people who do not share those assumptions. But Inge claims above all to introduce a Christian theology of place, and it will be up to other Christians to contend with his insights. He declares ‘that attention to place by the Christian community will afford great nourishment and sustenance to it’ (p. 137); how various Christians imagine that community will determine the places that Christianity might inhabit.