
The Secular Care of the Self
Discipline and Its Discontents across the Protestant Atlantic
- 176 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
The Secular Care of the Self
Discipline and Its Discontents across the Protestant Atlantic
About this book
The modern desire to care for our health, so obvious to its proponents, has its discontents. Secular medicine denounces the work of those who claim the protective powers of spirits or the Holy Spirit. In this contestation over what it means to care for oneself, Ian Whitmarsh offers an unorthodox thesis: the modern secular desire toward health is founded in a Protestant congregationalism that shapes its refusal of spirit manifestation, revelation, and the power of deities to shape the world. This proper healthy ethics and aesthetics is then taught to those who lack choice in their continuing to live through these ontologies. Whitmarsh explores these dynamics of power and spirit as they move across the Atlantic, from northern Europe to North America to the country of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad offers a broken mirror to the ostensibly secular global endeavor of the desire to be healthy. This mirror shows that the threat found in the spirits and practitioners of other religions, such as Pentecostal healing and orisha manifestation, reveals racialized Protestant commitments masked within a modern global "secular" care of the self.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half title
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Secular Desire for Health
- Chapter 1. Protestant Care of the Self
- Chapter 2. Working with the Spirit, Spirits, and the Secular
- Chapter 3. Health and Its Involuntary Other
- Chapter 4. Congregational Life
- Chapter 5. The Paradoxical Will and Its Discontents
- Conclusion: Desecularizing Hermeneutics?
- Notes
- References
- Index