RELS 202 Sacred Flesh: Bodies, Religion, and Power in America
Praying, fasting, singing, kneeling, raising hands - all of these are bodily movements that are widely recognized to be “religious.” But we often don’t think of other bodily practices and experiences such as dressing and tattooing our bodies, or bodily sensations and feelings such as ecstasy and joy, as equally essential to religious life. In this course, we will consider how the human body has been a primary site of religious meaning and contestation in the United States in the past and present. We will investigate how religious traditions have shaped ideas about what bodies are for and which bodies matter by looking at how bodies intersect with state power, legal rulings, medical authority, and assumptions about race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and disability. In doing so, we will consider how and why some bodies have become symbols of purity, while other bodies are deemed dangerous. We will pay particular attention to moments in American history when bodies have become contested terrain in religious debates over issues such as enslavement, missionary projects, religious freedom, and reproductive rights.