From reflections to membranes: transcripts on the body in religious discourse

Abstract

This volume brings together an assortment of original case studies from distinct religious traditions and from diverse geographical regions and historical periods. It does not pretend to form a survey of the main issues and treatments of the body in contemporary scholarship on religion or in traditional doctrinal discourses, nor does it culminate toward a single account on how to typologize the human body from various religious perspectives. While the different methodological approaches and contents of this work makes it possible to explore a wide range of themes and topics, it also marks the beginning of a much greater challenge, namely, that of describing the physical body in religious contexts not only as a mirror that reflects our cultural, social, and metaphysical preoccupations and clichés, but more importantly as a dynamic platform for the formation and embodiment of individual and collective experiences unfolding in space and time.