Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity Paperback - 2004 - 1st Edition

First line

Monks wasting away in the desert, saints beating their bodies and sleeping on nails, apostles renouncing all pleasures and subsisting on the charity of benefactors, pious men and women starving their senses in emulation of Christ: it is by now a truism to note that devout Christians of earlier eras displayed profound ambivalence about the flesh.

From the rear cover

"This is a wonderful book, well-conceptualized, written with style and wit, and impressive for its ambition, reach and achievement. R. Marie Griffith brings to the scene learning, theoretical subtlety, critical acumen, historical skill, and humane sensibility. She has emerged as one of the most sophisticated and insightful scholars of the Christian body in any period of Christian history."--Robert Orsi, Harvard University

"Born Again Bodies is extraordinary. It uncovers an arena of knowledge never before looked at with this level of critical attention when examining American religious culture; Griffith's strength is that she looks across the 'evangelical' denominations. Her work is elegant and truly original."--Sander L. Gilman, author of Difference and Pathology and Jewish Frontiers

Media reviews

Citations

• Books & Culture, 11/01/2005, Page 16
• Choice, 02/01/2005, Page 1038
• Christian Century, 05/03/2005, Page 39
• Christianity Today, 09/01/2013, Page 76
• Publishers Weekly, 09/27/2004, Page 57