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.

Read the TOC and the introduction.

Ornella, Alexander D. / Knauss, Stefanie / Höpflinger, Anna-Katharina (eds.), Commun(icat)ing Bodies. Body as a Medium in Religious Symbol Systems, Zurich: TVZ, 2014.

The editors:

Alexander D. Ornella, Dr. theol., Jahrgang 1977, is Lecturer in Religion at the School of Social Science, University of Hull (UK).

Stefanie Knauss, Dr. theol., Jahrgang 1976, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University (USA).

Anna-Katharina Höpflinger, Dr. sc. rel., Jahrgang 1976, is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Zurich and the University of Neuenburg (CH).