SPATIAL PROCESSES AND THE DUALITY OF CHURCH AND FAITH - A SIMMELIAN PERSPECTIVE ON US DENOMINATIONAL GROWTH, 1900-1930

With information on all U.S. denominations of nontrivial sizes, this p aper examines various spatial and temporal prcesses underlying religio us expansion between 1900 and 1930. Simmel's provocative and complex e ssay, ''Soziologie des Raumes'' (1903) poses the central paradox that religion is both faith - cultural constellations of beliefs - and chur ch - social associations that are spatially situated. This distinction helps to clarify differences among denominations with regard to the e xtent to which they exert strong demands on their members, and leads t o predictions about variation in denominational growth rates, in spati al dynamics, and in the extent to which denominations accommodate to c ontextual heterodoxy (diversity) or not. In these terms, we re-examine the debate about whether adherence rates increase in competitive mark ets (under conditions of diversity) or under monopoly conditions (unde r conditions of little diversity). We finally suggest that Simmel's th eoretical emphasis on spatial and temporal dynamics has relevance for understanding the nature of mobilization efforts of various kinds, not only by religious groups, but also by those that organize social and political movements.