One of the few generalizations about religion that may be

safely declared is that the practice of belief is always, in one

way or another, a firmly embodied affair, transpiring in the medium of the human

body. Even in the hands of the most zealously ascetic or scholastic adherents,

religion’s deep register is the body

that is denied, cloaked, disciplined,

or scorned. In less repressive religious

cultures, the body is celebrated as the

vessel of memory, the bearer of social

status, the medium of divine pres-

ence, and the richly adorned display

of fecundity, transport, joy, or sexual

union.

The human body offers manifold

possibilities to act as the medium of

belief. Costume for ritual occasions

such as prayer or recitation of holy

writ (a) shapes personal performance

by investing the individual with the

solemnity of public display. More

permanent changes to the body, such

as tattoos, make personal statements

that link the individual to a variety of

communities—some of them ethnic

or racial, but also the associations of

tattoo wearers linked through tattoo

shops, clubs, newsletters, and maga-

zines. Religious iconography, such as

mages and

the body

IMAGES AND THE BODY

i

volume thirteen

(a) A Jewish boy reads from the Torah

at his bar mitzvah. [©Nathan Nourok/

Photo Edit]

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