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Courtney Bender - The New Metaphysicals - 9780226042800 - V9780226042800
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The New Metaphysicals

€ 45.73
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Description for The New Metaphysicals Paperback. American spirituality - meaning astrology, yoga, and the huge number of other alternative strains of religion pursued by individuals outside of traditional organizations - is usually thought to be a product of the postmodern era. This title reveals that contemporary American spirituality has deep historic roots in the nineteenth century. Num Pages: 272 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: 1KBB; HRLK. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 231 x 152 x 20. Weight in Grams: 426.
American spirituality - meaning astrology, yoga, and the huge number of other alternative strains of religion pursued by individuals outside of traditional organizations - is usually thought to be a product of the postmodern era. Aromatherapy, crystals, and an interest in one's aura are supposedly relics of the narcissism and iconoclasm of the 1960s. But, as "The New Metaphysicals" reveals, contemporary American spirituality has deep historic roots in the nineteenth century and a great deal in common with traditional religious movements: it turns out the New Age is getting on in years. To explore the world of contemporary spiritual practitioners, Courtney Bender combines research into the history of the movement with fieldwork in Cambridge, Massachusetts - a key site of alternative religious inquiry from Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James to today. Through her ethnographic analysis, Bender discovers that a focus on the new, on progress, and on the way spiritualist beliefs intersect with science obscures the historical roots of spirituality from its practitioners as well as from the many scholars who have studied it. Perceptive, persuasive, and at times gently humorous, "The New Metaphysicals" will greatly broaden our understanding of religion in America.

Product Details

Publisher
The University of Chicago Press United States
Number of pages
272
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2010
Condition
New
Weight
426 g
Number of Pages
272
Place of Publication
, United States
ISBN
9780226042800
SKU
V9780226042800
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50

About Courtney Bender
Courtney Bender is associate professor of religion at Columbia University and the author of Heaven's Kitchen: Living with Religion at God's Love We Deliver, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews for The New Metaphysicals
"Truly distinctive and distinguished. This is a remarkable book simply for recording these fascinating practitioners and helping readers understand their categories of experience in all their complexity. But her work does far more than merely record; it offers a compelling examination of how we may think anew about these categories and the people - metaphysicals and scholars alike - for whom they matter. Hilarious and humane all at once: it's a rare mix, and Bender hits the mark again and again." - R. Marie Griffith, Harvard Divinity School.

Goodreads reviews for The New Metaphysicals


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