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Lelwica (Concordia College) explores how the fascination with better bodies articulates contemporary priorities and social anxieties. While deftly analyzing the capitalist imperatives driving pop culture, Lelwica draws attention to the implicit religiosity of this fascination, in at least two senses. The first sense suggests how sacred texts and traditions impact how one perceives embodiment; the second sense argues for the quasi-religious functioning of perfecting one’s physique. Here the author contends that exercise or beauty regimens operate like religious ritual, and the rhetoric of somatic improvement acts like a “salvation myth.” This intriguing premise is only partially borne out in her readings of biblical texts and historical examples. Direct influences from religious discourses, such as theologies of Incarnation or Buddhist notions of impermanence, remain frustratingly vague, such that the enterprise begs the question of what is meant by “secular.” Yet Lelwica is, as she writes in chapter 2, “more interested in intersections than causes,” and her explication of the underlying connections between ableism, ageism, and fat (and other forms of body) shaming are both clear and convincing. The author integrates autobiographical passages with the ease of an experienced teacher. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students.
Lelwica (Concordia College) explores how the fascination with better bodies articulates contemporary priorities and social anxieties. While deftly analyzing the capitalist imperatives driving pop culture, Lelwica draws attention to the implicit religiosity of this fascination, in at least two senses. The first sense suggests how sacred texts and traditions impact how one perceives embodiment; the second sense argues for the quasi-religious functioning of perfecting one’s physique. Here the author contends that exercise or beauty regimens operate like religious ritual, and the rhetoric of somatic improvement acts like a “salvation myth.” This intriguing premise is only partially borne out in her readings of biblical texts and historical examples. Direct influences from religious discourses, such as theologies of Incarnation or Buddhist notions of impermanence, remain frustratingly vague, such that the enterprise begs the question of what is meant by “secular.” Yet Lelwica is, as she writes in chapter 2, “more interested in intersections than causes,” and her explication of the underlying connections between ableism, ageism, and fat (and other forms of body) shaming are both clear and convincing. The author integrates autobiographical passages with the ease of an experienced teacher. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students.
Shameful Bodies takes us on a wonderful journey of renewed understanding of the traps of our dominant culture regarding our bodies. It opens a new creative understanding based on freedom and mutual respect.
This excellent exploration is of interest not only to readers in Religious Studies, but also in Disability, Postcolonial and Feminist Studies. I highly recommend this exceptional work.
… [a] wide-ranging, insightful, and very instructive analysis of Western culture’s obsession with bodily perfection ... A book that should appeal to anyone, including high school and college students, interested in the profound impact religion and culture have in shaping our identities and deepest sense of self.
Michelle Mary Lelwica is Professor of Religion at Concordia College, USA. She is the author of The Religion of Thinness (2009) and Starving for Salvation (1999).
Lelwica (Concordia College) explores how the fascination with better bodies articulates contemporary priorities and social anxieties. While deftly analyzing the capitalist imperatives driving pop culture, Lelwica draws attention to the implicit religiosity of this fascination, in at least two senses. The first sense suggests how sacred texts and traditions impact how one perceives embodiment; the second sense argues for the quasi-religious functioning of perfecting one’s physique. Here the author contends that exercise or beauty regimens operate like religious ritual, and the rhetoric of somatic improvement acts like a “salvation myth.” This intriguing premise is only partially borne out in her readings of biblical texts and historical examples. Direct influences from religious discourses, such as theologies of Incarnation or Buddhist notions of impermanence, remain frustratingly vague, such that the enterprise begs the question of what is meant by “secular.” Yet Lelwica is, as she writes in chapter 2, “more interested in intersections than causes,” and her explication of the underlying connections between ableism, ageism, and fat (and other forms of body) shaming are both clear and convincing. The author integrates autobiographical passages with the ease of an experienced teacher. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students.
Shameful Bodies takes us on a wonderful journey of renewed understanding of the traps of our dominant culture regarding our bodies. It opens a new creative understanding based on freedom and mutual respect.
This excellent exploration is of interest not only to readers in Religious Studies, but also in Disability, Postcolonial and Feminist Studies. I highly recommend this exceptional work.
… [a] wide-ranging, insightful, and very instructive analysis of Western culture’s obsession with bodily perfection ... A book that should appeal to anyone, including high school and college students, interested in the profound impact religion and culture have in shaping our identities and deepest sense of self.
Michelle Mary Lelwica is Professor of Religion at Concordia College, USA. She is the author of The Religion of Thinness (2009) and Starving for Salvation (1999).