ABSTRACT
Bryan Turner has identified important shifts for understanding the body and embodiment in contemporary society. Sociological discussions of the body have primarily focused on the nature of bodies especially their form and function. Issues surrounding gender, sexuality and health, especially in the area of medicine, were often the focus of sociologists. Turner rejects this type of sociological work on the body, which tends to reify the body. Embodiment, on the other hand, focuses on notions of the body, how bodies are constructed in social space, the social discourse surrounding bodies, and how bodies are represented or the phenomenology of bodily experience. For our purposes, embodiment focuses on how charismatic Christianity is expressed through bodies and as a vehicle for signifying the presence of the Spirit and what charismatics describe as the Father's love. Soaking prayer allows people to engage the sacred and cultivate the charismatic gifts.
