ABSTRACT
This volume brings together an assortment of original case studies from distinct religious traditions and from diverse geographical regions and historical periods. It does not pretend to form a survey of the main issues and treatments of the body in contemporary scholarship on religion or in traditional doctrinal discourses, nor does it culminate toward a single account on how to typologize the human body from various religious perspectives. While the different methodological approaches and contents of this work makes it possible to explore a wide range of themes and topics, it also marks the beginning of a much greater challenge, namely, that of describing the physical body in religious contexts not only as a mirror that reflects our cultural, social, and metaphysical preoccupations and clichés, but more importantly as a dynamic platform for the formation and embodiment of individual and collective experiences unfolding in space and time.
