Description
Book SynopsisLaunches a sensitive investigation into Christian fitness and diet culture. This book analyzes Christianity's intricate role in America's obsession with the body, diet, and fitness. It traces the underpinning of modern-day beauty and slimness ideals - as well as the bigotry against people who are overweight.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Perilous Body Gospels A Note on Reading the Images 1. Gluttons for Regimen: Anglo-Protestant Culture and the Reorientation of Appetite The Diet of Angels: Fasting in Early Modern Anglo-American Protestantism Gospels of Physick: Medicine, Methodism, and Mortification Rarefied Flesh: Sexual Regulation, Bodily Pleasure, and Perfection Phrenology and Somatic Authenticity 2. Sculptors of Our Own Exterior: New Thought Physiques "Nothing but a Dense Shadow": The Body as Delusion? Corresponding Bodies Female Sexual Pleasure and Mystical Communion: Reproducing a Civilized Race Regimens Shaping Bodies to Come 3. Minding the Body: Divergent Paths of New Thought Perfectionism Living on Air: Gospels of Fasting, Conquest, and Purgation William Sheldon's Metaphysical Somatotypes God in a Body: Gastronomy and Black Power 4. Pray the Weight Away: Shaping Devotional Fitness Culture Shedd-ing Pounds: Scripture and Devotional Practice in Service to Weight Loss The Burgeoning Christian Diet Culture From Empathy to Authority: Shifting Models of Expertise Religious Devotion to Thinness Outside Mainstream Protestantism 5. "Don't Eat That": Denial, Indulgence, and Exclusion in Christian Diet Culture Poisoned Bodies, Blemished Souls: Food as Taint and Transgression Loved on a Smaller Scale: Women,Weight, and the Divine Lover Above The Power of Perfection: Purified Bodies and Racialized Worlds Epilogue: Bodies in Crisis? Notes Primary Source Bibliography Index
