Living Spirit, Living Practice

Frankenberg Ruth Frankenberg

Description

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.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• USA
• Comparative religion
• Biological anthropology
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822385523
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

l i v i n g s p i r i t , l i v i n g p r a c t i c e

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R u t h F r a n k e n b e r g

L I V I N G S P I R I T, L I V I N G P R A C T I C E

p o e t i c s , p o l i t i c s , e p i s t e m o l o g y

Duk e Univ e r s i t y P r e s s D U R H A M & L O N D O N 2 0 0 4

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C O N T E N T S

acknowledgmentsvii introduction:On Rivers, Mountains, and Secrets 1 Talking to God—and God Talking Back 33 Mind Embodied: Spiritual Practice and Consciousness 77 Place and the Making of Religious Practice 133 The Spirit of the Work: Challenging Oppression, Nurturing Diversity 174

Conscious Sex, Sacred Celibacy: Sexuality and the Spiritual Path 212 epilogue265 appendix1 Biographical Summaries 271 appendixProfile 2772 Demographic notes281 bibliography291 index299

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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

First and foremost I thank the individuals who were interviewed for the research upon which this book is based. For this work could not have been achieved without their willingness to share with me their time, their ways of seeing, and their understanding of their own spir- itual and religious lives. Also crucially important to this book and its completion has been my ongoing, multifaceted connection with Lata Mani. Her insights, both spiritual and intellectual, have been present through all stages of this project from its inception to the present moment. Several institutions have supported me during the period of my work on this study. I thank the University of California, Davis Human- ities Institute. Early on, a Fellowship at theucdhiprovided a context for me to begin analyzing and writing about these interviews. I also thank all at the Center for the Study of Culture and Society in Banga- lore, India. During two extended periods of research leave based at cscs, around two-thirds of this book were written. Finally I thank the University of California, Davis, for two faculty research grants. This book could not possibly have come to fruition without the painstaking work of several women skilled in transcribing interviews. Stephanie Harolde undertook the greater part of this work as well as some emergency web research. Trena Cleland, Dora Ritzer, Janet Dawson, and Anne Savino were also patient, careful, and remarkably swift in transcribing this material. Many colleagues have supported me throughout this work. I espe- cially thank Jay Mechling, Kent Ono, Carolyn Thomas de la Peña, Michael Smith, and David Wilson, and as well Angie Chabram-

Dernersesian, Rosa Linda Fregoso, Herman Gray, Wendy Ho, Charles Hirschkind, Saba Mahmood, Judith Newton, Jacob Olupona, and Brenda Schildgen. Talal Asad, James Cli√ord, and Karen McCarthy Brown also o√ered assistance at key moments. Beyond the groves of academe the following individuals were, in their di√erent ways, crucial to my journey through this project: Nav- roze Contractor, Ambika Kathe Chambers, Deepa Dhanraj, Alison Frankenberg, Ammu Joseph, S. G. Vasudev, and Drs. Robert Zeiger and Sudha. I would also like to thank Ronald Frankenberg, whose presence in my life traverses the scholarly and the familial. Ken Wissoker at Duke University Press was unfailing in his commit- ment to this book, and wise in his professional counsel. The editorial and production teams at Duke have been a dream to work with and Leah Stewart’s copyediting of the text was exactly what I would have wished for.

To all named here as well as to the creative spirit, I remain ever grateful.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

o n r i v e r s , m o u n t a i n s , a n d s e c r e t s

rf Tell me what the wordspiritualityto you in your life— means personally what it means to you. sadiqa When you first say ‘‘spirituality,’’ I think of a word that’s been seriously overused lately. It’s marketing. rf I’ve heard you say ‘‘spirit.’’ Maybespiritis a word that works better for you. sadiqa Yeah,spiritfeels better. Spirit is guidance, spirit is oneness, spirit is higher self, spirit is the all in all, which is Allah, you know. It is the uncomprehendable. It’s bigger. Spirit is also right here. Spirit is the earth as well as the sky. But spirit in my life is—it changes its form. It changes or maybe it just grows. I don’t know if it actually changes. It just starts to have more words I can understand or define it by. It’s just a feeling. It’s a feeling, you know. Because, as I was telling you over the phone, I’ve had, lately, lots of issues with spiritual teachers, or leaders. And so I’ve had this struggle, going back and forth. Does this mean I’m a nonbeliever? Does this mean I’m a Muslim? Does this mean I’m a Sufi? Does this mean I’m a Christian? Does this mean I’ve given up religion? So, spirit doesn’t necessarily translate into religion, spirit just translates into the higher knowing, the higher self, which can include the religion or the religious practices that can help you go there, through the mantra or thezikr,the chanting, the spiritual, the phrase. You know, usually Allah’s name, which is very common in Islam.(Sadiqa, is a Pal- estinian American, 28, born Orthodox Christian, now a Sufi)