Re-forming the Body

'Enriches the concpetual arsenal for interdisciplinary analysis of political, social and cultural change...stimulates more nuanced thinking about the cultural and political legacy of the Reformation era...manages both to clarify tensions surrounding cultural and social integration in the late 20th century while underscoring the real historical complexity of modern bodies' - American Journal of Sociology Through an analysis of successive re-formations of the body, this innovative and penetrating book constructs a fascinating and wide-ranging account of how the creation and evolution of different patterns of human community are intimately related to the somatic experience of the sacred. The book places the relationship between the embodiment and the sacred at the crux of social theory, and casts a fresh light on the emergence and transformation of modernity. It critically examines the thesis that the rational projects of modern embodiment have 'died and gone to cyberspace', and suggests that we are witnessing the rise of a virulent, effervescent form of the sacred which is changing how people 'see' and 'keep in touch' with the world around them.Grounded in classical and contemporary theory, Re-forming the Body makes a seminal contribution to understanding the relationship between the sacred and profane: the world of religious and moral sentiment and the world of the body.