Born Again Bodies

I find R. Marie Griffith to be an intelligent writer, an intelligent reader of culture and Christianity.  She has written another incredible, thought-provoking book, this time on Christian fitness and the diet culture: Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity.  Currently she states the obvious, millions of American Christians "have made a religious duty out of diet" or are absolutely convinced that divine diet consists only of raw foods and vegetables.  "Disregard what goes into your body, many suggest, and you will not only gain weight, look ugly, and feel awful but you will also doom yourself to a lifetime and likely an eternity of divine disfavor."  She notes how, "Christian diet vendors have plainly hit upon a painful but highly lucrative theme.  Today, books categorized as Christian life and spirituality make up about 40 per cent of all self-help books, and a sizeable proportion of the genre is devoted to weight loss."