Author: Cavan W. Concannon
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022681565X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
"Paul's epistles are central to nearly every variation of Christianity, and there are as many different readings of Paul as there are sects of Christianity. Paul has also been co-opted by influential contemporary thinkers such as Agamben, Badiou, and Žižek. Religious scholar Cavan Concannon, however, has other plans. Taking as his starting point the language of excrement, refuse, and waste in Paul's letters, he reads these passages to think about the textual and material uses of garbage and excrement, and, ultimately, whether Paul's writings can be redeemed. Concannon presses on the tension between the evils that have been wrought through Paul's letters and the sacralizing effects of his place in the Christian canon. He drills down into the attempted redemption of Paul within radical European philosophical circles, but he reads these appropriations of Paul alongside professional biblical scholars who have sought to enlist Paul into their own liberal political projects. Concannon's book intervenes in the history of biblical studies, the use of Paul's letters by contemporary philosophers, and the political potential of feminist, African American, and queer biblical scholarship. Can Paul be redeemed, ultimately? Concannon insists the answer is no, but he argues that by paying attention both to why Paul can't be redeemed and what happens to interpreters who try, we can open up a space for Paul's archive to participate in the struggle for a more just future"--
Profaning Paul
Author: Cavan W. Concannon
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022681565X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
"Paul's epistles are central to nearly every variation of Christianity, and there are as many different readings of Paul as there are sects of Christianity. Paul has also been co-opted by influential contemporary thinkers such as Agamben, Badiou, and Žižek. Religious scholar Cavan Concannon, however, has other plans. Taking as his starting point the language of excrement, refuse, and waste in Paul's letters, he reads these passages to think about the textual and material uses of garbage and excrement, and, ultimately, whether Paul's writings can be redeemed. Concannon presses on the tension between the evils that have been wrought through Paul's letters and the sacralizing effects of his place in the Christian canon. He drills down into the attempted redemption of Paul within radical European philosophical circles, but he reads these appropriations of Paul alongside professional biblical scholars who have sought to enlist Paul into their own liberal political projects. Concannon's book intervenes in the history of biblical studies, the use of Paul's letters by contemporary philosophers, and the political potential of feminist, African American, and queer biblical scholarship. Can Paul be redeemed, ultimately? Concannon insists the answer is no, but he argues that by paying attention both to why Paul can't be redeemed and what happens to interpreters who try, we can open up a space for Paul's archive to participate in the struggle for a more just future"--
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022681565X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
"Paul's epistles are central to nearly every variation of Christianity, and there are as many different readings of Paul as there are sects of Christianity. Paul has also been co-opted by influential contemporary thinkers such as Agamben, Badiou, and Žižek. Religious scholar Cavan Concannon, however, has other plans. Taking as his starting point the language of excrement, refuse, and waste in Paul's letters, he reads these passages to think about the textual and material uses of garbage and excrement, and, ultimately, whether Paul's writings can be redeemed. Concannon presses on the tension between the evils that have been wrought through Paul's letters and the sacralizing effects of his place in the Christian canon. He drills down into the attempted redemption of Paul within radical European philosophical circles, but he reads these appropriations of Paul alongside professional biblical scholars who have sought to enlist Paul into their own liberal political projects. Concannon's book intervenes in the history of biblical studies, the use of Paul's letters by contemporary philosophers, and the political potential of feminist, African American, and queer biblical scholarship. Can Paul be redeemed, ultimately? Concannon insists the answer is no, but he argues that by paying attention both to why Paul can't be redeemed and what happens to interpreters who try, we can open up a space for Paul's archive to participate in the struggle for a more just future"--
Profaning Paul
Author: Cavan W. Concannon
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226815641
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
A critical reconsideration of the repeated use of the biblical letters of Paul. The letters of Paul have been used to support and condone a host of evils over the span of more than two millennia: racism, slavery, imperialism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism, to name a few. Despite, or in some cases because of, this history, readers of Paul have felt compelled to reappropriate his letters to fit liberal or radical politics, seeking to set right the evils done in Paul’s name. Starting with the language of excrement, refuse, and waste in Paul’s letters, Profaning Paul looks at how Paul’s “shit” is recycled and reconfigured. It asks why readers, from liberal Christians to academic biblical scholars to political theorists and philosophers, feel compelled to make Paul into a hero, mining his words for wisdom. Following the lead of feminist, queer, and minoritized scholarship, Profaning Paul asks what would happen if we stopped recycling Paul’s writings. By profaning the status of his letters as sacred texts, we might open up new avenues for imagining political figurations to meet our current and coming political, economic, and ecological challenges.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226815641
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
A critical reconsideration of the repeated use of the biblical letters of Paul. The letters of Paul have been used to support and condone a host of evils over the span of more than two millennia: racism, slavery, imperialism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism, to name a few. Despite, or in some cases because of, this history, readers of Paul have felt compelled to reappropriate his letters to fit liberal or radical politics, seeking to set right the evils done in Paul’s name. Starting with the language of excrement, refuse, and waste in Paul’s letters, Profaning Paul looks at how Paul’s “shit” is recycled and reconfigured. It asks why readers, from liberal Christians to academic biblical scholars to political theorists and philosophers, feel compelled to make Paul into a hero, mining his words for wisdom. Following the lead of feminist, queer, and minoritized scholarship, Profaning Paul asks what would happen if we stopped recycling Paul’s writings. By profaning the status of his letters as sacred texts, we might open up new avenues for imagining political figurations to meet our current and coming political, economic, and ecological challenges.
Paul
Author: Edgar Johnson Goodspeed
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 90
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 90
Book Description
God, Politics, Economy
Author: Bulent Diken
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317745167
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167
Book Description
The book intervenes into the contemporary debate on religion, politics, and economy, focusing on the field of formation which emerges as these seemingly autonomous spheres encounter one another. Empirically, it concentrates on examples from literature, theatre, and cinema as well as a case study of the recent revolts in Turkey where a ‘moderate’ Islamic government is in power. Theoretically, its focus is on the contemporary ‘return’ of religion in the horizon of the critique of religion, seeking to articulate an affirmative politics that can re-evaluate the value of dominant values in religious governance and governance of religion.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317745167
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167
Book Description
The book intervenes into the contemporary debate on religion, politics, and economy, focusing on the field of formation which emerges as these seemingly autonomous spheres encounter one another. Empirically, it concentrates on examples from literature, theatre, and cinema as well as a case study of the recent revolts in Turkey where a ‘moderate’ Islamic government is in power. Theoretically, its focus is on the contemporary ‘return’ of religion in the horizon of the critique of religion, seeking to articulate an affirmative politics that can re-evaluate the value of dominant values in religious governance and governance of religion.
Paul, Then and Now
Author: Matthew V. Novenson
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467463981
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
Reckoning with the hermeneutical struggle to make sense of Paul as both a historical figure and a canonical muse. Matthew Novenson has become a leading advocate for the continuing relevance of historical-critical readings of Paul even as some New Testament scholars have turned to purely theological or political approaches. In this collection of a decade’s worth of essays, Novenson puts contextual understandings of Paul’s letters into conversation with their Christian reception history. After a new, programmatic introductory essay that frames the other eleven essays, Novenson explores topics including: the relation between theology and historical criticism the place of Jews and gentiles in Paul’s gospel Paul’s relation to Judaism the relevance of messianism to Paul’s Christology Paul’s eschatology in relation to ancient Jewish eschatologies the aptness of monotheism as a category for understanding antiquity the reception of Paul by diverse early Christian writers the peculiar place of Protestantism in the modern study of Paul the debate over the recent Paul-within-Judaism movement anti-Judaism in modern New Testament scholarship disputes over Romans and Galatians the meta-question of what it would mean to get Paul right or wrong Engaging with numerous schools of thought in Pauline studies—Augustinian, Lutheran, New Perspective, apocalyptic, Paul-within-Judaism, religious studies, and more—while also rising above partisan disputes between schools, Novenson illuminates the ancient Mediterranean context of Paul’s letters, their complicated afterlives in the history of interpretation, and the hermeneutical struggle to make sense of it all.
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467463981
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
Reckoning with the hermeneutical struggle to make sense of Paul as both a historical figure and a canonical muse. Matthew Novenson has become a leading advocate for the continuing relevance of historical-critical readings of Paul even as some New Testament scholars have turned to purely theological or political approaches. In this collection of a decade’s worth of essays, Novenson puts contextual understandings of Paul’s letters into conversation with their Christian reception history. After a new, programmatic introductory essay that frames the other eleven essays, Novenson explores topics including: the relation between theology and historical criticism the place of Jews and gentiles in Paul’s gospel Paul’s relation to Judaism the relevance of messianism to Paul’s Christology Paul’s eschatology in relation to ancient Jewish eschatologies the aptness of monotheism as a category for understanding antiquity the reception of Paul by diverse early Christian writers the peculiar place of Protestantism in the modern study of Paul the debate over the recent Paul-within-Judaism movement anti-Judaism in modern New Testament scholarship disputes over Romans and Galatians the meta-question of what it would mean to get Paul right or wrong Engaging with numerous schools of thought in Pauline studies—Augustinian, Lutheran, New Perspective, apocalyptic, Paul-within-Judaism, religious studies, and more—while also rising above partisan disputes between schools, Novenson illuminates the ancient Mediterranean context of Paul’s letters, their complicated afterlives in the history of interpretation, and the hermeneutical struggle to make sense of it all.
Jesus Is Risen
Author: David Limbaugh
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1621577597
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
Originally confined to a small circle of believers centered in Jerusalem, Christianity's stunning transformation into the world's most popular faith is one of history's greatest, most miraculous stories. In Jesus Is Risen, #1 national bestselling author David Limbaugh provides a riveting account of the birth of Christianity. Using the Book of Acts and six New Testament epistles as his guide, Limbaugh takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the sorrow and suffering, as well as the joys and triumphs, of the apostles and other key figures as Christianity bursts through the borders of Judea following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Limbaugh particularly focuses on the crucial role that the Apostle Paul played in these historic events. Facing incredible adversities, from arrests to shipwrecks to violent mobs and murder plots, Paul overcomes countless obstacles as he travels far and wide to spread the Gospel. In Jesus Is Risen you will discover: • How the apostles themselves disproved modern arguments that early Christians did not believe in Jesus’ divinity. • The true story behind the first conversion to Christianity by a Gentile. • The many underhanded ways Christianity’s opponents tried in vain to stifle the Church in its infancy. • Paul’s most effective techniques and arguments for bringing converts to Christ. Throughout these pages, Limbaugh’s passion for the Bible is unmistakable and infectious. Replete with deep insights into the actions, arguments, and challenges of the world’s first Christian communities, Jesus Is Risen is a faith-affirming book for Christians at all stages of their faith walk.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1621577597
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
Originally confined to a small circle of believers centered in Jerusalem, Christianity's stunning transformation into the world's most popular faith is one of history's greatest, most miraculous stories. In Jesus Is Risen, #1 national bestselling author David Limbaugh provides a riveting account of the birth of Christianity. Using the Book of Acts and six New Testament epistles as his guide, Limbaugh takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the sorrow and suffering, as well as the joys and triumphs, of the apostles and other key figures as Christianity bursts through the borders of Judea following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Limbaugh particularly focuses on the crucial role that the Apostle Paul played in these historic events. Facing incredible adversities, from arrests to shipwrecks to violent mobs and murder plots, Paul overcomes countless obstacles as he travels far and wide to spread the Gospel. In Jesus Is Risen you will discover: • How the apostles themselves disproved modern arguments that early Christians did not believe in Jesus’ divinity. • The true story behind the first conversion to Christianity by a Gentile. • The many underhanded ways Christianity’s opponents tried in vain to stifle the Church in its infancy. • Paul’s most effective techniques and arguments for bringing converts to Christ. Throughout these pages, Limbaugh’s passion for the Bible is unmistakable and infectious. Replete with deep insights into the actions, arguments, and challenges of the world’s first Christian communities, Jesus Is Risen is a faith-affirming book for Christians at all stages of their faith walk.
Earthquakes and Gardens
Author: Virginia Burrus
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226824551
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Essays about ruination, resilience, reading, and religion generated by a reflection on a fourth-century hagiography. In Jerome’s Life of Saint Hilarion, a fourth-century saint briefly encounters the ruins of an earthquake-toppled city and a haunted garden in Cyprus. From these two fragmentary passages, Virginia Burrus delivers a series of sweeping meditations on our experience of place and the more-than-human worlds—the earth and its gods—that surround us. Moving between the personal and geological, Earthquakes and Gardens ruminates on destruction and resilience, ruination and resurgence, grief and consolation in times of disaster and loss. Ultimately, Burrus’s close readings reimagine religion as a practice that unsettles certainty and develops mutual flourishing.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226824551
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Essays about ruination, resilience, reading, and religion generated by a reflection on a fourth-century hagiography. In Jerome’s Life of Saint Hilarion, a fourth-century saint briefly encounters the ruins of an earthquake-toppled city and a haunted garden in Cyprus. From these two fragmentary passages, Virginia Burrus delivers a series of sweeping meditations on our experience of place and the more-than-human worlds—the earth and its gods—that surround us. Moving between the personal and geological, Earthquakes and Gardens ruminates on destruction and resilience, ruination and resurgence, grief and consolation in times of disaster and loss. Ultimately, Burrus’s close readings reimagine religion as a practice that unsettles certainty and develops mutual flourishing.
Slandering the Sacred
Author: J. Barton Scott
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022682490X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
"Although blasphemy is as old as religion itself, its history has begun a new chapter in recent years. Slanders of the sacred are everywhere, as in the highly visible Charlie Hebdo case, with "religion" sometimes appearing as little more than a membrane for giving and receiving offense. Where some explain the contemporary preoccupation with blasphemy by pointing to the interconnectedness of twenty-first-century media, J. Barton Scott argues that we need to look deeper into the past at the colonial-era infrastructures that continue to shape our globalized world. Slandering the Sacred examines one such powerful and widely influential legal infrastructure: Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code. What would it look like to take Section 295A as a text in, of, and for religion-a connective tissue interlinking multiple religious worlds? To answer this question, Scott explores the cultural, intellectual, and legal pre-history of this law, moving between colonial India and imperial Britain as well as between secular law and modern religion. Section 295A reveals a set of problems with no easy solution. It places a chill on free speech, extends the power of the state over civil society, and exacerbates the culture of religious controversy that it was designed to fix. The legislators who enacted the law foresaw the damage it could do and they enacted it anyway, as a half-despairing measure to curb injurious speech. Their problems are still our problems. The twenty-first century has compounded modernity's free-speech headache. Section 295A opens a useful window onto these problems precisely because it is a problem, too. Its history is a tale about the afterlives of the holy dead, the legal definition of the anglophone category "religion," and the transmissibility of outrage as bureaucratized affect"--
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022682490X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
"Although blasphemy is as old as religion itself, its history has begun a new chapter in recent years. Slanders of the sacred are everywhere, as in the highly visible Charlie Hebdo case, with "religion" sometimes appearing as little more than a membrane for giving and receiving offense. Where some explain the contemporary preoccupation with blasphemy by pointing to the interconnectedness of twenty-first-century media, J. Barton Scott argues that we need to look deeper into the past at the colonial-era infrastructures that continue to shape our globalized world. Slandering the Sacred examines one such powerful and widely influential legal infrastructure: Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code. What would it look like to take Section 295A as a text in, of, and for religion-a connective tissue interlinking multiple religious worlds? To answer this question, Scott explores the cultural, intellectual, and legal pre-history of this law, moving between colonial India and imperial Britain as well as between secular law and modern religion. Section 295A reveals a set of problems with no easy solution. It places a chill on free speech, extends the power of the state over civil society, and exacerbates the culture of religious controversy that it was designed to fix. The legislators who enacted the law foresaw the damage it could do and they enacted it anyway, as a half-despairing measure to curb injurious speech. Their problems are still our problems. The twenty-first century has compounded modernity's free-speech headache. Section 295A opens a useful window onto these problems precisely because it is a problem, too. Its history is a tale about the afterlives of the holy dead, the legal definition of the anglophone category "religion," and the transmissibility of outrage as bureaucratized affect"--
The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus
Author: James Crossley
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 146746578X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 576
Book Description
A diverse group of scholars charts new paths in the quest for the historical Jesus. After a decade of stagnation in the study of the historical Jesus, James Crossley and Chris Keith have assembled an international team of scholars to envision the quest anew. The contributors offer new perspectives and fresh methods for reengaging the question of the historical Jesus. Important, timely, and fascinating, The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus is a must read for anyone seeking to understand Jesus of Nazareth. Contributors Michael P. Barber, Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology, United States of America Giovanni B. Bazzana, Harvard Divinity School, United States of America Helen K. Bond, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom James Crossley, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway, and Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, United Kingdom Tucker S. Ferda, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, United States of America Paula Fredriksen, Boston University, United States of America, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Deane Galbraith, University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand Mark Goodacre, Duke University, United States of America Meghan R. Henning, University of Dayton, United States of America Nathan C. Johnson, University of Indianapolis, United States of America Wayne Te Kaawa, University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand Chris Keith, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway John S. Kloppenborg, University of Toronto, Canada Amy-Jill Levine, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, United States of America, and Vanderbilt University, United States of America Brandon Massey, University of Münster, Germany Justin J. Meggitt, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Halvor Moxnes, University of Oslo, Norway Robert J. Myles, Wollaston Theological College, University of Divinity, Australia Wongi Park, Belmont University, United States of America Janelle Peters, Loyola Marymount University, United States of America Taylor G. Petrey, Kalamazoo College, United States of America Adele Reinhartz, University of Ottawa, Canada Rafael Rodríguez, Johnson University, United States of America Sarah E. Rollens, Rhodes College, United States of America Anders Runesson, University of Oslo, Norway Nathan Shedd, William Jessup University, United States of America, and Johnson University, United States of America Mitzi J. Smith, Columbia Theological Seminary, United States of America, and University of South Africa, South Africa Joan Taylor, King’s College London, United Kingdom Matthew Thiessen, McMaster University, Canada Robyn Faith Walsh, University of Miami, United States of America Matthew G. Whitlock, Seattle University, United States of America Stephen Young, Appalachian State University, United States of America Christopher B. Zeichmann, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 146746578X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 576
Book Description
A diverse group of scholars charts new paths in the quest for the historical Jesus. After a decade of stagnation in the study of the historical Jesus, James Crossley and Chris Keith have assembled an international team of scholars to envision the quest anew. The contributors offer new perspectives and fresh methods for reengaging the question of the historical Jesus. Important, timely, and fascinating, The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus is a must read for anyone seeking to understand Jesus of Nazareth. Contributors Michael P. Barber, Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology, United States of America Giovanni B. Bazzana, Harvard Divinity School, United States of America Helen K. Bond, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom James Crossley, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway, and Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, United Kingdom Tucker S. Ferda, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, United States of America Paula Fredriksen, Boston University, United States of America, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Deane Galbraith, University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand Mark Goodacre, Duke University, United States of America Meghan R. Henning, University of Dayton, United States of America Nathan C. Johnson, University of Indianapolis, United States of America Wayne Te Kaawa, University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand Chris Keith, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway John S. Kloppenborg, University of Toronto, Canada Amy-Jill Levine, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, United States of America, and Vanderbilt University, United States of America Brandon Massey, University of Münster, Germany Justin J. Meggitt, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Halvor Moxnes, University of Oslo, Norway Robert J. Myles, Wollaston Theological College, University of Divinity, Australia Wongi Park, Belmont University, United States of America Janelle Peters, Loyola Marymount University, United States of America Taylor G. Petrey, Kalamazoo College, United States of America Adele Reinhartz, University of Ottawa, Canada Rafael Rodríguez, Johnson University, United States of America Sarah E. Rollens, Rhodes College, United States of America Anders Runesson, University of Oslo, Norway Nathan Shedd, William Jessup University, United States of America, and Johnson University, United States of America Mitzi J. Smith, Columbia Theological Seminary, United States of America, and University of South Africa, South Africa Joan Taylor, King’s College London, United Kingdom Matthew Thiessen, McMaster University, Canada Robyn Faith Walsh, University of Miami, United States of America Matthew G. Whitlock, Seattle University, United States of America Stephen Young, Appalachian State University, United States of America Christopher B. Zeichmann, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Awkward Rituals
Author: Dana W. Logan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226818500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
A fresh account of early American religious history that argues for a new understanding of ritual. In the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War, there was an awkward persistence of sovereign rituals, vestiges of a monarchical past that were not easy to shed. In Awkward Rituals, Dana Logan focuses our attention on these performances, revealing the ways in which governance in the early republic was characterized by white Protestants reenacting the hierarchical authority of a seemingly rejected king. With her unique focus on embodied action, rather than the more common focus on discourse or law, Logan makes an original contribution to debates about the relative completeness of America’s Revolution. Awkward Rituals theorizes an under-examined form of action: rituals that do not feel natural even if they sometimes feel good. This account challenges common notions of ritual as a force that binds society and synthesizes the self. Ranging from Freemason initiations to evangelical societies to missionaries posing as sailors, Logan shows how white Protestants promoted a class-based society while simultaneously trumpeting egalitarianism. She thus redescribes ritual as a box to check, a chore to complete, an embarrassing display of theatrical verve. In Awkward Rituals, Logan emphasizes how ritual distinctively captures what does not change through revolution.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226818500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
A fresh account of early American religious history that argues for a new understanding of ritual. In the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War, there was an awkward persistence of sovereign rituals, vestiges of a monarchical past that were not easy to shed. In Awkward Rituals, Dana Logan focuses our attention on these performances, revealing the ways in which governance in the early republic was characterized by white Protestants reenacting the hierarchical authority of a seemingly rejected king. With her unique focus on embodied action, rather than the more common focus on discourse or law, Logan makes an original contribution to debates about the relative completeness of America’s Revolution. Awkward Rituals theorizes an under-examined form of action: rituals that do not feel natural even if they sometimes feel good. This account challenges common notions of ritual as a force that binds society and synthesizes the self. Ranging from Freemason initiations to evangelical societies to missionaries posing as sailors, Logan shows how white Protestants promoted a class-based society while simultaneously trumpeting egalitarianism. She thus redescribes ritual as a box to check, a chore to complete, an embarrassing display of theatrical verve. In Awkward Rituals, Logan emphasizes how ritual distinctively captures what does not change through revolution.