Christianity and the Limits of Materiality

Despite the fact that Christianity is understood to be thoroughly intertwined with matter, objects, and things, Christians struggle to cope with this materiality in their daily lives. This volume argues that the ambivalent relationships many Christians have with materiality is a driving force that contributes to the way people in different Christian traditions and in different parts of the world understand and live out their religion.

By placing the questions of limits and boundary-work to the fore, the volume addresses the question of exactly how Christianity takes place materially, addressing a gap in studies to date. Christianity and the Limits of Materiality presents ground-breaking research on the frameworks and contexts in relation to and within which Christian logics of materiality operate. The volume places the negotiations at the limits of materiality within the larger framework of Christian identities and politics of belonging.
The chapters discuss case studies from North and South America, Europe, and Africa, and demonstrate that the limits preoccupying Christians delimit their lives but also enable many things. Ultimately, Christianity and the Limits of Materiality demonstrates that it is at the interfaces of materiality and the transcendent that Christians create and legitimise their religion.

Minna Opas is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Turku, Finland.

Anna Haapalainen is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Turku, Finland.

Foreword, David Morgan (Duke University, USA)
1.Introduction, Minna Opas & Anna Haapalainen (University of Turku, Finland)
Part 1: Doubting
2. Spirit Media and the Spectre of the Fake, Marleen de Witte (Unviersity of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
3. Organic Faith in Amazonia: Uncertainty at the Interfaces of the Tangible Christian Body, Minna Opas (University of Turku, Finland)
4. “Matter matters”: Ecotheologies and limits of materiality, Panu Pihkala (University of Helsinki, Iceland)
5. Orthodox Christianity (tbc)
Part 2: Sufficing
6. The Bible in the Digital Age: Negotiating the Limits of Materiality in Religious Practices, Katja Rakow(Heidelberg University, Germany)
7. The Plausibility of Immersion: Dilemmas of Materiality in Making a Biblical Theme Park, James Bielo (Miami University, USA)
8.”Acting Jesus” – authenticity and aesthetics in religious plays: The case of St. Michael's parish church theatre group, Anna Haapalainen (University of Turku, Finland)
9. Semana Santa processions in Granada – Religion or Spectacle? Sari Kuuva (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
10. The Death and Rebirth of a Crucifix: Materiality and the Sacred in Andean Vernacular Catholicism, Diego Alonso Huerta (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú / University of Helsinki, Finland)
Part 3: Unbinding
11. Sacraments, Spirit and Power. Lutherans and Radical Pietists on the Limits of Materiality, Elisa Heinämäki (University of Helsinki, Finland)
12. Public or Private Body? Personal Experiences and Apostasy in the Finnish Pentecostal Movement, Teemu Mantsinen (University of Turku, Finland)
13. "Falling from grace": why leave the Christian rehabilitation? Igor Mikeshin (University of Helsinki, Finland)
Afterword: Matthew Engelke (London School of Economics, UK)
Bibliography
Index

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