The Body of Faith
A Biological History of Religion in America
248 pages
|
6 x 9
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© 2013
The postmodern view that human experience is constructed by language and culture has informed historical narratives for decades. Yet newly emerging information about the biological body now makes it possible to supplement traditional scholarly models with insights about the bodily sources of human thought and experience.
The Body of Faith is the first account of American religious history to highlight the biological body. Robert C. Fuller brings a crucial new perspective to the study of American religion, showing that knowledge about the biological body deeply enriches how we explain dramatic episodes in American religious life. Fuller shows that the body’s genetically evolved systems—pain responses, sexual passion, and emotions like shame and fear—have persistently shaped the ways that Americans forge relationships with nature, to society, and to God.
The Body of Faith is the first account of American religious history to highlight the biological body. Robert C. Fuller brings a crucial new perspective to the study of American religion, showing that knowledge about the biological body deeply enriches how we explain dramatic episodes in American religious life. Fuller shows that the body’s genetically evolved systems—pain responses, sexual passion, and emotions like shame and fear—have persistently shaped the ways that Americans forge relationships with nature, to society, and to God.
The first new work to appear in the Chicago History of American Religion series in decades, The Body of Faith offers a truly interdisciplinary framework for explaining the richness, diversity, and endless creativity of American religious life.
Contents
Preface
Chapter One: History’s Body
Chapter Two: Incorporating a Civill Body Politick
Chapter Three: Sectarian Sensibilities
Chapter Four: The Varieties of Emotional Experience
Chapter Five: Pain and the Creative Imagination
Chapter Six: Passion, Devotion, and Religious Transformation
Chapter Seven: Denominational Bodies, Individual Postures
Chapter Eight: The Body of Twenty-First-Century Faith
Afterword: Historiography in the Twenty-First Century
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Chapter One: History’s Body
Chapter Two: Incorporating a Civill Body Politick
Chapter Three: Sectarian Sensibilities
Chapter Four: The Varieties of Emotional Experience
Chapter Five: Pain and the Creative Imagination
Chapter Six: Passion, Devotion, and Religious Transformation
Chapter Seven: Denominational Bodies, Individual Postures
Chapter Eight: The Body of Twenty-First-Century Faith
Afterword: Historiography in the Twenty-First Century
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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History: American History
Religion: American Religions | Comparative Studies and History of Religion | Religion and Society
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