Rhythmic Flesh: How the Regulation of Bodily Rhythm Contributes to Spirituality in the Jesus Prayer, Medieval Dance, and African American Preaching

Abstract

Recent scholarship on the concept of flesh in Christianity points to the body’s susceptibility to change and influence from material phenomena as well as from social and discursive forces. But what are the processes by which such forces shape the body? This article argues, by analyzing three Christian practices from distinctive contexts—the Hesychast Jesus Prayer, medieval liturgical dance, and African American preaching—that rhythm is a key to understanding these processes. Each practice forms a body capable of connecting with spiritual forces by leveraging the body’s material rhythms and their symbolic associations through a process called entrainment in relation to a particular social context. The analysis of each practice, therefore, contributes to our understanding of how material and nonmaterial factors work together in the process of religious formation by uncovering the ways in which rhythm connects both dimensions.

Exploring the Inspiration of Creative Thinking by Somatic Rhythmic Method in Teaching Music and Dance Subjects

“…In music teaching, learning foreign famous music education systems and teaching methods to our music teachers to expand their horizons, reference to learning from, and improve the teaching effect has an important role. Literature [14] tries to understand Exploring the Inspiration of Creative Thinking by Somatic Rhythmic Method in Teaching Music and Dance Subjects 3 medieval worship dance and sermon dance from the perspective of physical dance rhythm and believes that the material world and the religious world are connected through rhythmic body movements. Literature [15] proposes a theory of emotion based on an activist framework to investigate the link between emotional perception and physical activity and finds that regular interactions between the brain, environmental perception, and the body generate emotions.…”