Commun(icat)ing Bodies: Body as a Medium in Religious Symbol Systems

As a basic medium of human interaction, the body is fundamental to socio-cultural communication systems, in particular the communication system religion. Over time, religious traditions in all their various cultural and historical forms and incarnations have developed elaborated symbolic systems with the body at their center. This volume proposes to study these systems and the role that body plays in their organization through the perspective of the concept of body as a medium and by drawing on media and communication theory. The papers collected in this volume explore this perspective in relation to different religious traditions, historical periods and theoretical as well as theological themes. They also engage in specific theoretical frameworks in order to discuss the scope and limitations of thinking of the body as a medium in religious symbol systems. Topics covered range from ancient mythology to contemporary Parsi rituals to the boundaries between body and technology.

Anna-Katharina Höpflinger is a Researcher of Religious Studies both at Zurich and Neuenburg University, Switzerland, as well as at the University of Graz, Austria.

Stefanie Knauss is Assistant Professor at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies of Villanova University, USA.

Alexander D. Ornella is Lecturer of Religion at the School of Social Sciences, University of Hull, UK.