Seeking The Straight And Narrow

by Gerber

• ISBN13: 9780226288123
• ISBN10: 0226288129
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-05
• Publisher: UCP

Summary

Losing weight and changing your sexual orientation are both notoriously difficult to do successfully. Yet many faithful evangelical Christians believe that thinness and heterosexuality are godly idealsand that God will provide reliable paths toward them for those who fall short. Seeking the Straight and Narrowis a fascinating account of the world of evangelical efforts to alter our strongest bodily desires. Drawing on fieldwork at First Place, a popular Christian weight-loss program, and Exodus International, a network of ex-gay ministries, Lynne Gerber explores why some Christians feel that being fat or gay offends God, what exactly they do to lose weight or go straight, and how they make sense of the program's resultsor, frequently, their lack. Gerber notes the differences and striking parallels between the two programs, and, more broadly, she traces the ways that other social institutions have attempted to contain the excesses associated with fatness and homosexuality. Challenging narratives that place evangelicals in constant opposition to dominant American values, Gerber shows that these programs reflect the often overlooked connection between American cultural obsessions and Christian ones.

Author Biography

Lnne gerber is a lecturer in the Religious Studies Department and research fellow in the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Fat, Gay, Christian	p. 1
Framing Right and Wrong	p. 17
Sin	p. 19
Health	p. 52
Making Christian Bodies	p. 79
Change, in Theory	p. 81
Change, in Practice	p. 110
Accountings	p. 153
Success/Failure	p. 155
Breaking	p. 194
Conclusion: JudgmentùReligious and Secular	p. 221
Notes	p. 231
Bibliography	p. 261
Index	p. 283
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