This paper examines the almost religious-like devotion of especially women in pursuing the goal of a thinner body. The quest for a slender body is analysed as a ‘cultural religion’, which the author calls the ‘Religion of Thinness’. The analysis revolves around four observations. The first is that for many women in the US today, the quest for a slender body serves what has historically been a ‘religious’ function: providing a sense of purpose that orients and gives meaning to their lives, especially in times of suffering and uncertainty. Second, this quest has many features in common with traditional religions, including beliefs, myths, rituals, moral codes, and sacred images—all of which encourage women to find ‘salvation’ (i.e., happiness and well-being) through the pursuit of a ‘better’ (i.e., thinner) body.Third, this secular faith draws so many adherents in large part because it appeals to and addresses what might be referred to as spiritual needs—including the need for a sense of purpose, inspiration, security, virtue, love, and well-being—even though it shortchanges these needs, and, in the long run, fails to deliver the salvation it promises. Fourth, a number of traditional religious ideas, paradigms and motifs tacit­ly inform and support the Religion of Thinness. More specifically, its soteri­ology resurrects and recycles the misogynist, anti-body, other-worldly, and exclusivist aspects of patriarchal religion. Ultimately, the analysis is not only critical of the Religion of Thinness; it also raises suspicions about any clear-cut divisions between ‘religion’, ‘culture’, and ‘the body’. In fact, examining the functions, features, and ideologies embedded in this secular devotion gives us insight into the constitutive role of the body in the production and apprehension of religious and cultural meanings.

This paper explores the concept and practice of "embodied pedagogy" as an alternative to the Cartesian approach to knowledge that is tacitly embedded in traditional modes of teaching and learning about religion. My analysis highlights a class I co-teach that combines the study of Aikido (a Japanese martial art) with seminar-style discussions of texts that explore issues pertaining to embodiment in the context of diverse spiritual traditions. The physicality of Aikido training makes it an interesting "case study" of embodied pedagogy and the lessons it offers both teachers and students about the academic study of religion. Ultimately, the questions and insights this class generates illustrate how post-Cartesian pedagogies can expose, challenge, and correct epistemological assumptions that contribute to one-dimensional views of religion and that fail to address our students as whole persons. A final part of the paper considers other possible venues for embodying teaching and learning in the academic study of religion. Challenges of the Cartesian LegacyDuring the past few decades, "the body" has become a rather hot topic in the academynot just in the field of religion but in other disciplines as well.* This turn to the body is part of the broader insurrection of "subjugated knowledges" (Foucault 2003, 7) heralded by feminists, postmodernists, postcolonialists, and critical thinkers of various stripes. Though not always explicit, an important facet of this revolution is the critique of Cartesian assumptions. More specifically, Descartes' assertions (1) that the essential feature of human beings is their capacity to reason; (2) that the mind is independent of the body; and (3) that the body by itself lacks intelligence (Descartes 1956, 21, 23), have been challenged by more complicated and integrated views of humans in which "body" and "mind" are inextricably linked (

No abstract

What happens when your body doesn’t look how it’s supposed to look, or feel how it’s supposed to feel, or do what it’s supposed to do? Who or what defines the ideals behind these expectations? How can we challenge them and live more peacefully in our bodies? Shameful Bodies: Religion and the Culture of Physical Improvement explores these questions by examining how traditional religious narratives and modern philosophical assumptions come together in the construction and pursuit of a better body in contemporary western societies. Drawing on examples from popular culture such as self-help books, magazines, and advertisements, Michelle Mary Lelwica shows how these narratives and assumptions encourage us to go to war against our bodies—to fight fat, triumph over disability, conquer chronic pain and illness, and defy aging. Through an ethic of conquest and conformity, the culture of physical improvement trains us not only to believe that all bodily processes are under our control, but to feel ashamed about those parts of our flesh that refuse to comply with the cultural ideal. Lelwica argues that such shame is not a natural response to being fat, physically impaired, chronically sick, or old. Rather, body shame is a religiously and culturally conditioned reaction to a commercially-fabricated fantasy of physical perfection. While Shameful Bodies critiques the religious and cultural norms and narratives that perpetuate external and internalized judgment and aggression toward “shameful” bodies, it also engages the resources of religions, especially feminist theologies and Buddhist thought/practice, to construct a more affirming approach to health and healing—an approach that affirms the diversity, fragility, interdependence, and impermanence of embodied life.

Where does the supposed shame of older women's bodies come from? In this essay, I suggest that such shame is not a natural response to aging; rather, it is a culturally conditioned reaction to the patriarchal fantasy of female physical perfection. While certain norms and narratives within Christianity tacitly encourage women to pursue this fantasy, there are also resources within this tradition that can help us challenge the stigma assigned to older female flesh and affirm the goodness of bodies that have lived a long time. Simultaneously, aging itself can provide a lens for fruitfully rethinking some central Christian ideas.