Reclaiming the Sacred
"This is a carefully crafted piece of social history that broadly revises widely held preconceptions about ideological currents in the French Revolution. The issues it raises go beyond those that might appeal only to specialists in communal action and religion; historical sociologists and sociologists of culture will also find this to be an important and provocative study."--American Journal of Sociology
Reclaiming the Sacred
The second edition of Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture continues the groundbreaking work of the original, exploring the territory between gay/lesbian studies, literary criticism, and religious studies. This much-anticipated follow-up examines the appropriation and/or subversion of the authority of the Judeo-Christian Bible by gay and lesbian writers. The book highlights two prevalent trends in gay and lesbian literature—a transgressive approach that challenges the authority of the Bible when used as an instrument of oppression, and an appropriative technique that explores how the Bible contributes to defining gay and lesbian spirituality. Reviewers of the first edition of Reclaiming the Sacred hailed the book’s enterprise in exploring the area between literary criticism and religious studies. Whereas contemporary literary-critical theory has been slow to integrate religion and religious history into queer theory, this pioneering journal has addressed the issue from the start with a collection of thoughtful and though-provoking articles. This latest edition expands coverage to include noncanonical ancient texts, popular Victorian religious texts, and contemporary theater. Academics and lay readers interested in literary criticism, cultural studies, and religious studies will gain new insights from topics such as: religious mystery and homosexual identity in Terrence McNally’s “Corpus Christi” same-sex biblical couples in Victorian literature homoerotic texts in the Apocrypha sodomite rhetoric in a seventeenth-century Italian text Radclyffe Hall’s lesbian messiah in her 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness homosexual temptation in John Milton’s Paradise Regained Reclaiming the Sacred counteracts the manipulative and oppressive uses to which modern writers and thinkers put the Bible and the “morality” it is presumed to inscribe. An important tool for understanding the role of the Bible in gay and lesbian culture, this remarkable book makes a powerful contribution to the advancement of studies on queer sanctity.
Reclaiming Sacred Spaces
Nobody imagined that a democratic struggle by ordinary Muslim women would hit patriarchy at its core and yield a great step forward towards gender justice. The Haji Ali Case not only challenged the patriarchy within the Muslim community but it also created space for an alternative voice which was desperately trying to speak the language of equality, justice, and democracy. This struggle created space for an open debate on womens rights and religion. A Muslim woman is a world citizen today. She has all the right to lead the change not just for herself or her community but for all humankind. This book captures the struggle to reclaim sacred spaces from patriarchal forces and hopes to inspire other similar movements led by women.
Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art
Examines the role of the sacred in art and makes a compelling case for its continued contemporary relevance.
Resonating Sacralities
In The Netherlands, the arts have gained a sacralized status, while religion is increasingly viewed through the lens of heritage. The dynamic resonance of sacred forms this results in, is exemplary for the postsecular. Exploring this resonance, this book offers a strong counterweight to the popular trope of the arts having replaced religion in secularized societies. Instead it approaches artistic performance, religion, and its heritage as mutually engaging sacred forms. Lieke Wijnia thoroughly connects theoretical perspectives on the sacred with ethnographic research at the annual festival Musica Sacra Maastricht. She explores the continued relevance of a broad conceptual approach to the sacred, as well as the practical side to negotiating the sacred at the festival. The resulting analyses shed new light on topics like musical performance as generator of the sacred, how art and heritage impact the continuity of religion in secularized societies, and the fragility of artistic performance in the contemporary fragmented framework of the sacred. This book offers an innovative and interdisciplinary interpretation of the continuing significant role of art and religion in postsecular societies.
