THE SPACE OF THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE: A SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE NARRATIVE ROLE OF THE GARDEN IN CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC TRADITIONS

Abstract

The garden functions not merely as a site of cultivation but as a semiotic space where religious
narratives inscribe boundaries between the sacred and the profane. This paper undertakes
a sociological interpretation of the garden’s narrative role, focusing specifically on the Christian
and Islamic traditions. The paper examines the garden as a religious space and symbol that actively
participates in the social construction and demarcation of both spheres. Historically and
mythological, the garden serves as the primordial setting for creation and fall (Eden), the locus of
revelation or profound spiritual experience (Gethsemane), and the ultimate representation of paradise
(Heaven/Jannah). Sociologically, this narrative function reveals how religious communities
organize, perceive, and interact with space and nature, creating a distinction between the ordered,
sanctified and ideal space of the garden and the chaotic, temporal or fallen reality of the profane
world. The objective of this research is to explicate the complex sociological dimensions embedded
within these religious spatial metaphors. The paper will analyze how the garden, through its narrative
manifestation, both separates and connects the sacred and the profane, thereby influencing
the social practices, ethics, and cosmological understanding of believers in both traditions.