Overview
- Provides a systematic approach of the field, suggesting an overarching analytic pattern for the variety of programs
- Invokes the potential of embodiment paradigms and somatic approaches in cultural and religious studies
- Is the only one on devotional fitness based on active participation in evangelical fitness classes
Part of the book series: Popular Culture, Religion and Society. A Social-Scientific Approach (POPCULT, volume 2)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Theoretical and Methodological Background
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Front Matter
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Body and Religion in Twentieth Century America: From New Thought to Bod4God
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Front Matter
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Analysis of Empirical Data: Products, Narratives, and Theologies
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Front Matter
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Theoretical Reflections—Reflecting Theory
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book examines evangelical dieting and fitness programs and provides a systematic approach of this diverse field with its wide variety of programs. When evangelical Christians engage in fitness and dieting classes in order to “glorify God,” they often face skepticism. This book approaches devotional fitness culture in North America from a religious studies perspective, outlining the basic structures, ideas, and practices of the field. Starting with the historical backgrounds of this current, the book approaches both practice and ideology, highlighting how devotional fitness programs construe their identity in the face of various competing offers in religious and non-religious sectors of society. The book suggests a nuanced and complex understanding of the relationship between sports and religion, beyond ‘simple’ functional equivalency. It provides insights into the formation of secular and religious body ideals and the way these body ideals are sacralized in the frame of an evangelical worldview.
Reviews
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Martin Radermacher is a Research Associate at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at Bochum University (Germany). During his doctoral research in the United States, he was affiliated with the Department of Religion at Columbia University, New York. He completed his PhD on evangelical dieting and fitness programs in North America at Münster University (Department of Religion) in 2014 and has published in various volumes on contemporary religion and Christianity. He is co-founder and speaker of the newly established working group on evangelical, pentecostal, and charismatic movements within the German Association for the Study of Religions (DVRW). Besides the entanglements of sports, fitness and religion, his research interests include religion und space/materiality, contemporary religion and spirituality, the history of the study of religions as well as the theory and method of the study of religions.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Devotional Fitness
Book Subtitle: An Analysis of Contemporary Christian Dieting and Fitness Programs
Authors: Martin Radermacher
Series Title: Popular Culture, Religion and Society. A Social-Scientific Approach
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49823-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-49821-8Published: 12 January 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84247-9Published: 14 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-49823-2Published: 05 January 2017
Series ISSN: 2509-3223
Series E-ISSN: 2509-3231
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 275
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations
Topics: Sociology of Culture, Religious Studies, general, Aesthetics