Customer Reviews

Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (California Studies in Food and Culture)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Griffith's "Born Again Bodies" is outstanding. It's elegantly written, thoughtful, and contributes substantially to discussions on the Christian body, devotionalism, and gender.

Mixed feelings. This is an extraordinarily interesting book but it's dense, somewhat overwritten, and not easy to read. Trivial issues, just be sure to read it when you have a quiet space and time to concentrate.

The bigger problem I have with it is that, while I think (assume? I wouldn't know otherwise) Griffith probably does great when sticking to topics within religious contexts, I am sometimes skeptical of her application of them to secular situations. Fitness may not be a religion in the literal or academic senses, but it definitely serves as one for a lot of people in the functional and practical senses, and I'm not sure that her insistence on the difference between the two amounts to much more than hairsplitting.

While I agree that religious view and practices likely did influence modern body images and fitness practices, I'm not sure they were as big an influence as Griffith wants to believe. I think it might difficult to prove whether one built the other or whether they developed in parallel, but I suspect a case could be made either way. I guess we all tend to see things through the framework of what is most familiar, and hers is religion. Mine is secular history, though, and I think someone with that background could argue the other angle, too.

She also seems to be, on occasion, either willfully blind to or incredibly naive about the motives of the historical figures about whom she writes. It doesn't seem to occur to her that John Humphrey Noyes might have been a good, old-fashioned, pervert, or that Mary Baker Eddy might have had a vain streak.

if you are interested in a scholarly approach to Christian fitness, this is the best book out there.

Simply terrible. A complete waste of money as I felt the author was just trying to talk over my head, and she succeeded.

Don't waste your money