Abstracts
Abstract
In the history of dance and Christian theology, the United Society of Believers in the Second Coming of Christ, otherwise known as the Shakers, prove a unique case. Not only did the Shakers practice dancing for over 140 years as the central, constitutive ritual of a successful separatist religious socialism ; and not only did the Shakers mount a biblically informed theological defense of their dancing practice. The Shakers also elevated dancing alongside the Bible as a privileged medium of divine revelation. This paper mobilizes an ecokinetic approach in relation to the first two arcs of Shaker history to argue that the Shakers’ dancing serves as an authorizing source for their theological innovations. Dance is theopraxis.
Résumé
Dans l’histoire de la danse et de la théologie chrétienne, la United Society of Believers in the Second Coming of Christ, plus connue sous le nom de Shakers, présente un cas unique. Non seulement les Shakers ont-ils pratiqué la danse pendant 140 ans comme le rituel central et constitutif d’un socialisme religieux séparatiste fonctionnel ; et non seulement ont-ils constitué une défense théologique de leur pratique fondée sur les textes bibliques. Ils ont aussi placé la danse aux côtés de la Bible comme moyen privilégié de révélation divine. Cet article mobilise une approche écokinétique en relation avec les deux premiers moments de l’histoire des Shakers, afin de proposer l’idée selon laquelle la danse des Shakers est une source d’autorité pour leurs innovations théologiques. La danse est theopraxis.
Appendices
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