Rhythmic Flesh: How the Regulation of Bodily Rhythm Contributes to Spirituality in the Jesus Prayer, Medieval Dance, and African American Preaching
Recent scholarship on the concept of flesh in Christianity points to the body’s susceptibility to change and influence from material phenomena as well as from social and discursive forces. But what are the processes by which such forces shape the body? This article argues, by analyzing three Christi...
| Published in: | Journal of the American Academy of Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Christianity
/ Prayer
/ Embodiment
/ Rhythm
/ Hesychasm
/ Liturgics
/ Dance
/ The Americas
/ Blacks
/ Predigtgottesdienst
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| RelBib Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality RC Liturgy RD Hymnology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Recent scholarship on the concept of flesh in Christianity points to the body’s susceptibility to change and influence from material phenomena as well as from social and discursive forces. But what are the processes by which such forces shape the body? This article argues, by analyzing three Christian practices from distinctive contexts—the Hesychast Jesus Prayer, medieval liturgical dance, and African American preaching—that rhythm is a key to understanding these processes. Each practice forms a body capable of connecting with spiritual forces by leveraging the body’s material rhythms and their symbolic associations through a process called entrainment in relation to a particular social context. The analysis of each practice, therefore, contributes to our understanding of how material and nonmaterial factors work together in the process of religious formation by uncovering the ways in which rhythm connects both dimensions. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfaa040 |