Living Spirit, Living Practice: Poetics, Politics, Epistemology - Hardcover

Frankenberg, Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822332574 ISBN 13: 9780822332572

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2004

Synopsis

In Living Spirit, Living Practice, the well-known cultural studies scholar Ruth Frankenberg turns her attention to the remarkably diverse nature of religious practice within the United States today. Frankenberg provides a nuanced consideration of the making and living of religious lives as well as the mystery and poetry of spiritual practice. She undertakes a subtle sociocultural analysis of compelling in-depth interviews with fifty women and men, diverse in race, ethnicity, national origin, class, age, and sexuality. Tracing the complex interweaving of sacred and secular languages in the way interviewees make sense of the everyday and the extraordinary, Frankenberg explores modes of communication with the Divine, the role of the body, the importance of geography, work for progressive social change, and the relation of sex to spirituality.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and other practitioners come together here, speaking in terms both familiar and surprising. Whether discussing an Episcopalian deacon, a former Zen Buddhist who is now a rabbi, a Chicano monastic, an immigrant Muslim woman, a Japanese American Tibetan Buddhist, or a gay African American practicing in the Hindu tradition, Frankenberg illuminates the most intimate, local, and singular aspects of individual lives while situating them within the broad, dynamic canvas of the U.S. religious landscape.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"Many Americans say ‘faith is an important aspect of my life,’ but Ruth Frankenberg’s fascinating book shows us in much depth and variety what that may mean. We see how individuals re-interpret their faith consciously and unconsciously, how they move across faith boundaries, how they blend, edit, and expand faith practices to generate meaningful selves, lives, and worlds."—Susan Harding, author of The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics

"The interviews and analysis in Living Spirit, Living Practice plumb the depths of spiritual practice and experience. Ruth Frankenberg simultaneously addresses the greater issues of religious identity, the meaning of ‘spirit,’ and the nature of the spiritual journey. This book makes visible the larger presence of Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism, which are now helping to alter the American religious landscape.—Kenneth K. Tanaka, coeditor of The Faces of Buddhism in America

From the Back Cover:

"The interviews and analysis in "Living Spirit, Living Practice" plumb the depths of spiritual practice and experience. Ruth Frankenberg simultaneously addresses the greater issues of religious identity, the meaning of 'spirit, ' and the nature of the spiritual journey. This book makes visible the larger presence of Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism, which are now helping to alter the American religious landscape.--Kenneth K. Tanaka, coeditor of "The Faces of Buddhism in America"

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0822332574
• ISBN 13: 9780822332572
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320