Description
Book SynopsisThis book convenes leading scholars to explore the roles of attire and adornment in the creation and communication of religious meaning, identity, and community. Contributors investigate aspects of religious dress in North America in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.
Trade ReviewThis book is a glorious romp through the wardrobe of American religions, unraveling the ways in which the clothing and adornment are not mere sidenotes to the study of religious beliefs and practices but integral to understanding the diverse religious communities of North America. -- Rachel B. Gross, John and Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies, San Francisco State University
In lucid prose, the editors of this handsome volume usher readers into the worlds of religion, attire, and adornment. Beautifully curated, the collection shows us how bodily presentation matters. Contributors explain what the language of sacred garb tells us about how religion is worn; what these vestments mean for those who wear, touch, view, or simply imagine them. This is a book that speaks to glamour and plainness, sartorial splendor and fashionable modesty in so many of its North American guises. This is a book you will want to teach! -- Laura Levitt, author of
The Objects that RemainReligion, Attire, and Adornment in North America addresses the relationship between religion and dress in America and the ways that religious practitioners make meaning through their sartorial choices. Its chapters are accessibly written and their breadth is impressive; scholars of American religions, new religious movements, gender studies, and material culture will appreciate this volume. -- Nora L. Rubel, author of
Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American ImaginationTable of ContentsIntroduction: Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America, by Benjamin E. Zeller and Marie W. Dallam
Part I. Theological Adornment1. Seventh-day Adventist Dress: “An Index to the Heart,” by Emily J. Bailey
2. Clothing Spiritual Reality: The Sartorial Styles of Mary Baker Eddy, byJeremy Rapport
3. Faith, Fashion, and Film in the Jazz Age: Catholic Vestments Encounter the Roaring 1920s, Adrienne Nock Ambrose
4. Power Before Thrones of God and Man: Women, Adornment, and Public Life in White American Pentecostalism, by Andrea Shan Johnson and Leah Payne
Part II. Identity Adornment5. Holy Dashikis! Black Sartorial Nationalism and Black Israelite Religion, by André E. Brooks-Key
6. Refined Bodies: Clothing as a Visual Signifier of Piety for Mormon Women in America, by Kate Davis
7. The Christian Tattoo: Much More than Skin-Deep, by Jerome R. Koch and Kevin D. Dougherty
8. “Queens of the Earth”: The MGT Uniform as a Form of Identity Creation and Nation Building, by Kayla Renée Wheeler
Part III. Negotiated Adornment9. “Ye Shall Be Naked in Your Rites”: Ritual Attire and Ritual Nudity (Skyclad) in North American Wicca, by Michelle Mueller
10. Amish Vogue: Performing Fashion in the Plain World, by Nao Nomura
11. “Your Religion Is Showing”: Negotiation and Personal Experience in Mormon Garments, by Jessica Finnigan and Nancy Ross
Part IV. Activist Adornment12. Dressed for Glory: White Uniforms in African American Church Traditions as Visual Political Theology, by Elaina Smith
13. “The Hare Krishna Look”: ISKCON Adornment as Religious Activism, by Benjamin E. Zeller
14. Religious Dress, the Church of Body Modification, and the First Amendment, by Marie W. Dallam
Discussion Questions
Suggested Reading List
List of Contributors
Index
