Justin Beaumont – The Center for Critical Research on Religion

Justin Beaumont

Justin Beaumont is an Independent Scholar. Research Associate at the Center for Critical Research on Religion in Newton, MA in the US and Honorary Research Fellow at Queen Mary, he has a Ph.D. in human geography from Durham University (UK) and has held positions in the UK and the Netherlands. His books include: The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity (Routledge 2018, Pb 2020), Exploring the Postsecular (co-edited with A. L. Molendijk and C. Jedan; Brill 2010); Postsecular Cities (co-edited with C. Baker; Continuum 2011); Faith-Based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities (co-edited with P. Cloke; Policy Press 2012); and Working Faith (co-edited with P. Cloke and A. Williams; Paternoster 2013). His research blends human geography and urban studies with social justice, critical theory, existential philosophy, decolonial thought, and postsecularity. He’s currently working on a single-authored monograph Enlightened City at Palgrave Macmillan, a second edition of The Handbook at Routledge with Professor Manaz Ratti at Salisbury, and new research on religion, postsecularity and the urban with Professor Chris Baker at Goldsmiths.

Research

Justin’s international and multidisciplinary research develops a keen sense of how social science focuses on issues of social and spatial justice, including a dynamic appreciation of how cities in a global, decolonial context are understood and developed as progressively political and ethically enlightened assemblages. He deals with three interrelated strands of inquiry:

(1) spatial and temporal variation in reflexive secularization, decolonial urban postsecularity, and the embrace of progressive postsecular politics of hope in the enlightened city;

(2) Russian philosophy, theology and literary ideas, namely Solovyov, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Berdyaev, and their influence on human geographical debates on postsecularity and the enlightened city;

(3) reflexive humanization and the recovery of the subjective value of “human” in decolonial postsecular analyses of the urban as metaphor for the whole.

Keywords: reflexive secularization; decolonial urban postsecularity; progressive politics of hope; critical theory; decolonial thought; enlightened city.

Books

Beaumont, J. (2023) Enlightened City: an inquiry into postsecular urban space, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Beaumont, J. (ed.) (2018) The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, first edition, London and New York: Routledge.

Nicholls, W., Miller, B. and J. Beaumont (eds) (2013) Spaces of Contention: spatialities of social movements, Farnham: Ashgate

Cloke, P., Beaumont, J. and A. Williams (eds) (2013) Working Faith: faith-based organizations and urban social justice, Milton Keynes/ Carlisle: Paternoster Press.

Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (2012) (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (eds) (2011) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum.

Molendijk, A. L., Beaumont, J. and C. Jedan (2010) Exploring the Postsecular: the religious, the political and the urban, Leiden/ Boston: Brill.

Refereed Journal Articles

Beaumont, J. R. and E. Z. Mendieta (2023) ‘Decolonial urban postsecularity’, Theory, Culture & Society, in preparation

Beaumont, J. R. (2022) ‘The enlightened city’, Political Geography, 97(August): Article 102616.

Sutherland, C. , Rivera, M., Sheedy, M. and Beaumont, J. (2021) Review forum: Justin Beaumont (Ed.) Reading The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, Routledge, London and New York (2018), Political Geography, 85, 102271.

Beaumont, J., Eder, K. and E. Mendieta (2020) ‘Reflexive secularization? concepts, processes, and antagonisms of postsecularity’, European Journal of Social Theory, First Published December 27, 2018.

Hasanov, M. and J. Beaumont (2016) ‘The value of collective intentionality for understanding urban self-organisation’, Urban Research and Practice, 9(3): 231-49.

Yazid, Z. E., Abdul Hamid, A. F., Folmer, H. and J. R. Beaumont (2014) ‘Secularisation in western society: an overview of the main determinants’, Pensee, 76(6): 393-413.

Cloke, P. and J. Beaumont (2013) ‘Geographies of postsecular rapprochement in the city’, Progress in Human Geography, 37(1): 27–51.

Beaumont, J. R. (2008) ‘Introduction: faith-based organizations and urban social issues’, Urban Studies, 45(10): 2011-17.

Beaumont, J. R. (2008) ‘Faith action on urban social issues’, Urban Studies, 45(10): 2019-34.

Beaumont, J. R. (2008) ‘Dossier: faith-based organizations and human geography’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 99(4): 377-81.

Beaumont, J. R. and C. Dias (2008) ‘Faith-based organizations and urban social justice in The Netherlands’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 99(4): 382-92.

Beaumont, J. R. and W. J. Nicholls (2008) ‘Introduction to the symposium: plural governance, participation and democracy in cities’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 32(1): 87-94.

Beaumont, J. and M. Loopmans (2008) ‘Towards radicalized communicative rationality: resident involvement and urban democracy in Rotterdam and Antwerp’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 32(1): 95-113.

Beaumont, J. R. and W. J. Nicholls (2007a) ‘Guest editorial: investigating the geographies of justice movements’, Environment and Planning A, 39(11): 2549-53.

Beaumont, J. R. and W. J. Nicholls (2007b) ‘Between relationality and territoriality: investigating the geographies of justice movements in The Netherlands and the United States’, Environment and Planning A, 39(11): 2554-74.

Beaumont, J., Loopmans, M. and J. Uitermark (2005) ‘Politicization of research and the relevance of geography: some experiences and reflections for an ongoing debate’, Area, 37(2): 118-26.

Beaumont, J. and S. Musterd (2005) ‘Guest editorial: governance and urban development programmes in Europe’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 96(4): 358-62.

Blanc, M. and J. Beaumont (2005) ‘Local democracy within European urban development programmes’, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 96(4): 409-20.

Nicholls, W. J. and J. R. Beaumont (2004) ‘Guest editorial: the urbanisation of justice movements?’, Space & Polity, 8(2): 107-18.

Nicholls, W. J. and J. R. Beaumont (2004) ‘The urbanization of justice movements? possibilities and constraints for the city as a space for contentious struggle’, Space & Polity, 8(2): 119-36.

Beaumont, J. R. (2003) ‘Governance and popular involvement in local antipoverty strategies in the UK and The Netherlands’, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: research and practice, 5(2-3): 189-207.

Contributions to Edited Volumes

Beaumont, J. and K. Eder (2018) ‘Concepts, processes, and antagonisms of postsecularity’. In Beaumont, J. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, London and New York Routledge, pp. 3-24.

Mendieta, E. and J. Beaumont (2018) ‘Reflexive secularization’. In Beaumont, J. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 425-36.

Beaumont, J. and Z. Yildiz (2016) ‘Entering a knowledge pearl in times of creative cities policy and strategy’. In Gerhard, U., Hoelscher, M. and D. Wilson (eds) Inequalities in Creative Cities: issues, approaches, comparisons, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nicholls, W., Miller, B. and J. Beaumont (2013) ‘Conceptualizing the spatialities of movements’., In Nicholls, W., Miller, B. and J. Beaumont (eds) Spaces of Contention: spatialities of social movements, Farnham: Ashgate.

Beaumont, J. and H. Noordegraaf (2013) ‘The Working Group The Poor Side of The Netherlands-EVA’. In Cloke, P., Beaumont, J. and A. Williams (eds) Working Faith: faith-based organizations and urban social justice, Milton Keynes/ Carlisle: Paternoster Press.

Davelaar, M., Williams, A. and J. Beaumont (2013) ‘Adventures at a border crossing: the Foundation for Diaconal Work in Rotterdam, The Netherlands’. In Cloke, P., Beaumont, J. and A. Williams (eds) Working Faith: faith-based organizations and urban social justice, Milton Keynes/ Carlisle: Paternoster Press.

Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (2012) ‘Introduction to the study of FBOs and exclusion in European cities’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Cloke, P. and J. Beaumont (2012) ‘Conclusion: the FBO phenomenon’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Herman, A., Beaumont, J., Cloke, P. and A. Walliser (2012) ‘Spaces of engagement in postsecular cities’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Romanillos, J., Beaumont, J., and M. Sen (2012) ‘State-religion relations and welfare regimes in Europe’. In Beaumont, J. and P. Cloke (eds) Faith-based Organizations and Exclusion in European Cities, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Baker, C. and J. Beaumont (2011) ‘Postcolonialism and religion: new spaces of “belonging and becoming” in the postsecular city’. In Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (eds) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum, pp. 33-49.

Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (2011) ‘Introduction: the rise of the postsecular city’. In Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (eds) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum, pp. 1-11.

Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (2011) ‘Afterword: Postsecular cities’. In Beaumont, J. and C. Baker (ed.) Postsecular Cities: space, theory and practice, London: Continuum, pp. 254-66.

Beaumont, J. (2010) ‘Transcending the particular in postsecular cities’. In Molendijk, A. Beaumont, J. and C. Jedan (eds) Exploring the Postsecular: the religion, the political and the urban, Leiden/ Boston: Brill, pp. 3-17.

Dias, C. and J. Beaumont (2010) ‘Postsecularism or late secularism? Faith creating place in the US’. In Molendijk, A. Beaumont, J. and C. Jedan (eds) Exploring the Postsecular: the religion, the political and the urban, Leiden/ Boston: Brill, pp. 267-79.

Beaumont, J. R. (2006) ‘London: deprivation, social isolation and regeneration’. In Musterd, S., Kestelooot, C. and A. Murie (eds) Neighbourhoods of Poverty: urban social exclusion and integration in Europe, Shropshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 139-61.

Beaumont, J. (2004) ‘De-industrialisation’. In Kazepov, Y. (ed.) Cities of Europe: changing contexts, local arrangements, and the challenge to urban cohesion, with accompanying CD-Rom, Oxford: Blackwell.

Beaumont, J. R. (2004) ‘Workfare, associationism and the “underclass” in the United States: contrasting faith-based action on urban poverty in a liberal welfare regime’. In Noordegraaf, H. and R. Volz (eds) European Churches Confronting Poverty: social action against social exclusion, Bochum: SWI Verlag, pp. 249-78.

Beaumont, J., De Decker, P. and J. Vranken (2003) ‘Concluding comments: on convergence and divergence’. In De Decker, P., Vranken, J., Beaumont, J. and I. van Nieuwenhuyze (eds.) On the Origins of Urban Development Programmes in Nine European Countries, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant, pp. 181-87. 5

Beaumont, J., van Kempen, R., Musterd. S., Decker, K., Staring, R., Dukes, T. and J. Burgers (2003) ‘Urban policy in The Netherlands’. In De Decker, P., Vranken, J., Beaumont, J. and I. van Nieuwenhuyze (eds) On the Origins of Urban Development Programmes in Nine European Countries, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant, pp. 119-37.

Beaumont, J., Loopmans, M. and J. Uitermark (2003) ‘Sustainability and politics of scholarship in policy-oriented research: analysing neighbourhoods in Belgium, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom’. In Schmitz, S. and H. Meert (eds) Evaluer la capacité du milieu – De capaciteit van het milieu geëvalueerd. Les Journées des Géographes Belges – De Belgische Geografendagen, Liège: Editions BEVAS/SOBEG, pp. 137-43.

De Dekker, P., Vranken, J., Beaumont, J. and I. van Nieuwenhuyze (eds) (2003) On the Origins of Urban Development Programmes in Nine European Countries, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant.

Other

Davelaar, M., Van den Toorn, J., De Witte, N., Beaumont, J. Kuiper, C. (2011). Faith-based Organisations and Social Exclusion in The Netherlands. Leuven: Acco.

Beaumont, J., Carta, G., Cloke, P., Davelaar, M., van den Toorn, J., Thomas, S. and A. Williams (2010) ‘Transnational comparison of the religious dimension’, Internal working paper for the EU-7FP FACIT project: Faith-based organizations and exclusion in European cities, November.

Dias, C. and J. Beaumont (2008) Book Review: Hans Knippenberg ed. The Changing Religious Landscape of Europe, The Geographical Journal, 174(1): 88-9.

Beaumont, J. R. (2007) ‘Introduction’, UCSIA Dialogue Series 11: Faith-based organizations and poverty in the city, Antwerp: UCSIA, pp.7-13.

Beaumont, J. R. and H. Noordegraaf (2007) ‘Aid under protest: churches against poverty in The Netherlands’, Dialogue Series 11: Faith-based organizations and poverty in the city, Antwerp: UCSIA, pp.41-59.

Zeelenberg, S. and J. Beaumont (2007) Book Review: Philip Booth and Bernard Jouve eds. Metropolitan Democracies: transformations of the state and urban policy in Canada, France and Great Britain, European Journal of Housing Policy, 7(4): 459-63.

Bailey, A. and J. Beaumont (2006) Book Review: Tajla Blokland, Urban Bonds, Antipode, 38(5): 1085-88.

Beaumont, J. R. (2006) Book Review: Rob Imrie and Mike Raco eds., Urban Renaissance? New Labour, community and urban policy, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 21(4): 459-61.

Beaumont, J. and A. E. Brouwer (2006) ‘Een decentraal bestuur heeft de toekomst: verplaatsing van macht’, Locomotie: tijdschrift voor onafhankelijke politiek, 8(29):11-13.

Zeelenberg, S. and J. Beaumont (2006) Book Review: Samuel Fleischacker, A Short History of Distributive Justice, Progress in Human Geography, 30(6).

Beaumont, J. (2005) ‘Regiopolitiek en mondialisering’, Agora, 21(4): 34-6.

Beaumont, J. (2005) ‘Territoria, relaties en stromen: regiopolitiek in en tijdperk van globalisering’, S&RO, no. 2: 10-19.

Beaumont, J. R. (2005) ‘“Governance”, decentralisatie en de opkomst van locale democratie?’, Agora, 21(2): 42-4.

Beaumont, J., Groep, R. van der, Loopmans, M., Plug, R. and J. Uitermark (2005) ‘De politiek van onderzoek’, Agora, 21(1): 4-6.

Beaumont, J. R. (2004) ‘Geloven in armoedebestrijding: geloofsgeïnspireerde actie tegen stedelijke armoede binnen een liberale staat’, Agora, 20(5): 29-32.

Beaumont, J. R. (2004) ‘Governance en armoedebestrijding’, Rooilijn, nummer 5(mei): 238-42.

Beaumont, J. R. (2004) ‘Balanceren tussen “legaliteit” en “illegaliteit” in Rotterdam: een interview met Patrice van de Vorst’, Agora 20(3): 30-2.

Beaumont, J., Rusinovic, K. and M. Wevers (2004) ‘De schaduw stad belicht: een verkenning van de relatie tussen de stedelijke formele- en informele sfeer’, Agora, 20(3): 4-5.6

Beaumont, J. R. (2004) ‘Contra de neo-liberale visie op industriebeleid: een pleidooi voor een herijking van de politiekedimensie’, Agora, 20(1): 38-41.

Beunderman, J and J. Beaumont (2003) ‘De stad kijkt de andere kant uit: nieuwe stedelijke armoede, stedelijk beleid, nieuw moralisme, Agora, 19(1): 4-7.

Van der Vet, J. and J. Beaumont (2003) ‘’De luxe om langs elkaar te leven is voorbij”: het Beraad van Kerken, Moskeeën en Mandirs in Rotterdam-West’, Agora, 19(5): 24-6.

Beaumont, J. R. (2002) ‘Van der kerk naar de staat en weer terug’, Agora, 18(4): 30-2.

Beaumont, J., Burgers, J., Dekker, K., Dukes, T., Den Hoedt, S. and R. Staring (2002) Urban Governance, Social Inclusion and Sustainability: the cross-evaluation report on The Netherlands, Utrecht: Urban and Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Utrecht University.

Dekker, K., Beaumont, J. and R. van Kempen (2002) Urban Development Programmes in the Hague: a preliminary assessment, Utrecht: Urban and Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Utrecht University.

Hamnett, C. and J. Beaumont (2002) ‘London: regeneration and combating social exclusion’. In Kesteloot, C. (ed.) Urban Territorial Policies and their Effects at the Neighbourhood Level, URBEX report no. 21, Amsterdam: AME

Beaumont, J. R. and C. Hamnett (2001) Comparison of Social Exclusion and Integration in Two Neighbourhoods, United Kingdom: London, URBEX report no.15, Amsterdam: AME.

Beaumont, J. R., Hamnett, C. Lee, P. and A. Murie (2000) Comparative Statistical Analysis at National, Metropolitan, Local and Neighbourhood Level, United Kingdom: London and Birmingham, URBEX report no.7, Amsterdam: AME.

Public Engagement

I am actively involved in Emmaus-UK, especially in the St. Albans and Norfolk & Waveney local contexts as well as the newly established Emmaus Values Forum. At one time a volunteer and honorary companion at Emmaus St. Albans, I am working towards new ways of thinking to combat poverty, injustice and homelessness within the Emmaus network—in the UK and internationally— drawing upon my work on the enlightened city and postsecularity.