Born again bodies [[electronic resource] ] : flesh and spirit in American Christianity / / R. Marie Griffith

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910450454703321
• Autore: Griffith R. Marie (Ruth Marie), <1967->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2004
• ISBN: 9786612763076; 0-520-93811-9; 1-282-76307-5; 1-59734-507-5
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (338 p.)
• Collana: California studies in food and culture ; ; 12
• Disciplina: 233/.5
• Soggetti: Human body - Religious aspects - Christianity - History of doctrines; Human body - Social aspects - United States - History; Protestantism - United States - History; Electronic books.; United States Religious life and customs
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-302) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- A Note on Reading the Images -- 1. Gluttons for Regimen -- 2. Sculptors of Our Own Exterior -- 3. Minding the Body -- 4. Pray the Weight Away -- 5. "Don't Eat That" -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Primary Source Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: "Fat People Don't Go to Heaven!" screamed a headline in the tabloid Globe in November 2000. The story recounted the success of the Weigh Down Workshop, the nation's largest Christian diet corporation and the subject of extensive press coverage from Larry King Live to the New Yorker. In the United States today, hundreds of thousands of people are making diet a religious duty by enrolling in Christian diet programs and reading Christian diet literature like What Would Jesus Eat? and Fit for God. Written with style and wit, far ranging in its implications, and rich with the stories of real people, Born Again Bodies launches a provocative yet sensitive investigation into Christian fitness and diet culture. Looking closely at both the religious roots of this movement ; and its present-day incarnations, R. Marie Griffith vividly analyzes Christianity's intricate role in America's obsession with the body, diet, and fitness. As she traces the underpinning of modern-day beauty and slimness ideals-as well as the bigotry against people who are overweight-Griffith links seemingly disparate groups in American history including seventeenth-century New England Puritans, Progressive Era New Thought adherents, and late-twentieth-century evangelical diet preachers.