Thomas S. Bremer, Ph.D.
Thomas S. "Tom" Bremer writes about places and experiences in the sacred wonderlands[link] of America. He is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Rhodes College and the author of three books. Dr. Bremer has served as a consultant for the National Park Service, and he writes the monthly Sacred Wonderland Newsletter. These days, he lives beside a pond near woods outside of Granville, Ohio.
Newsletter
Enjoy a bit of the Sacred Wonderland every month with the Newsletter by Thomas S. Bremer delivered to your Inbox—inspiring news and other items of interest about national parks and other special places, plus recommended reading, a featured photograph, and poetry—sent on the third Thursday of every month.
Publications
In addition to the books and other publications listed below, you can find recent writings on Medium. Also, click here for an AI disclosure.
Books
(click image for book description)
Sacred Wonderland
Formed From This Soil
Blessed with Tourists
Other Publications
The essays and other publications below are listed in reverse chronological order. You can use the Contact form[link] to request any of these that you are unable to find or access.
“Every trail has a history: The Canal Lock Trail at Blackhand Gorge” in The Reporting Project (April 22, 2026).
“Yellowstone has been a ‘sacred wonderland’ of spiritual power and religious activity for centuries – and for different faith groups,” in The Conversation (July 24, 2025).
“Op-Ed | Preserving America’s Best Idea: National Parks in The Fight for Democracy,” in National Parks Traveler (May 27, 2025).
“How reciting the Pledge of Allegiance became a sacred, patriotic ritual,” in The Conversation (June 11, 2024).
“In the worst of America’s Jim Crow era, Black intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois found inspiration and hope in national parks,” in The Conversation (December 15, 2023).
“In America, national parks are more than scenic − they’re sacred. But they were created at a cost to Native Americans,” in The Conversation (November 21, 2023).
“The Religious and Spiritual Appeal of National Parks,” in The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism, ed. Daniel Olsen and Dallen Timothy, Routledge (2021): 166-178.
“Black Robes and the Book of Heaven: When Christianity Went West,” in Church History and Religious Culture, volume 101 (2021): 80–100.
“Consider the Tourist,” in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Materiality, ed. Vasudha Narayanan, Wiley-Blackwell (2020): 187-206.
“Acadia National Park: A Soul and Spirit Stretching Place,” in Chebacco: The Magazine of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, volume XX (2019): 131-141.
“Worshiping at Nature’s Shrine” in Practical Matters Journal (April 8, 2016).
“The Modern Religiosity of the Newark Earthworks,” in The Newark Earthworks: Enduring Monuments, Contested Meanings, ed. Lindsay Jones and Richard D. Shiels, University of Virginia Press (2016): 198-212.
“A Touristic Angle of Vision: Tourist Studies as a Methodological Approach for the Study of Religions,” in Religion Compass volume 8, issue 12 (December 2014): 371-379.
“Evangelical Park: Railroads, Profit, and Religion at Yellowstone,” in Ranger Magazine volume 30, number 2 (Spring 2014): 8-9.
“Tourism and Pilgrimage,” in Encyclopedia of Religion in America, ed. Charles Lippy and Peter Williams, CQ Press (2010).
“The Brother of Jesus in Toronto,” in Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The Rise,
Fall and Religion of the James Ossuary, ed. Bernadette McNary-Zak and Ryan Byrne, University of North Carolina Press (2009): 31-58.
“A Touristic Spirit in Places of Religion,” in Faith in America: Changes, Challenges, New Directions, Volume 2: Religious Issues Today, ed. Charles H. Lippy, Greenwood (2006): 37-57.
“Lorraine Motel,” in American Icons: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places, and Things that have Shaped Our Culture, ed. Dennis R. Hall and Susan Grove Hall, Greenwood (2006): 419-424.
“Sacred Spaces and Tourist Places,” in Tourism, Religion, and Spiritual Journeys, ed. Dallen Timothy and Daniel Olsen, Routledge (2006): 25-35.
“Tourism and Religion,” in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition, vol. 13, Editor in Chief Lindsay Jones, Macmillan Reference (2005): 9260-64.
“Reading the Sahagún Dialogues,” in Sahagún at 500: Essays on the Quincentenary of the Birth of Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, ed. John Frederick Schwaller, Academy of American Franciscan History (2003): 11-29.
“Il Genius Loci Ignotus di Eranos e la Creazione di un Luogo Sacro,” in Eranos, Monte Veritá, Ascona, ed. E. Barone, M. Riedl, and A. Tischel, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, Italy (2003): 71-76.
“Tourists and Religion at Temple Square and Mission San Juan Capistrano,” in Journal of American Folklore volume 113, issue 450 (Fall, 2000): 422-35.
“Pilgrimage,” “San Juan de los Lagos, Nuestra Señora de,” “Talpa, Nuestra Señora del Rosario de,” and “Zapopan, Nuestra Señora de,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, ed. Davíd Carrasco, Oxford University Press (2000).
“Sacrificial Slaughter and Dressing Up: Gender Articulations in Muslim Rituals,” in Religious Studies Review volume 22 (July, 1996): 209-13.
AI Disclosure statement: I use generative artificial intelligence (AI) only for generating alternative text for images, which I subsequently edit. All other text, including image captions, is my original work.
Like many writers, I often rely on AI tools for checking grammar, spelling, and clarity in my writing, as well as assisting with research and expediting workflows. All finished writings, though, are products of my own thoughtful, creative, and experienced efforts in composing and editing the written word.
For my original images, I regularly crop them as well as adjust color and exposure manually, but I never use AI to alter the images. – Thomas S. Bremer
Contact
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