{"id":1936,"date":"2009-04-16T11:39:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T11:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/04\/rag-and-bone\/"},"modified":"2009-04-16T11:39:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-16T11:39:00","slug":"rag-and-bone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/04\/rag-and-bone.html","title":{"rendered":"Rag and Bone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>I was sent a copy of \u00a0a new book called Rag and Bone <\/span>and asked to review it. I read everything people send me as I reckon that\u2019s one of the best ways to keep an open mind.<\/p>\n

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Rag and Bone<\/span>\u00a0is a book on relics.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Now, if it\u2019s about relics or incorrupt bodies of saints or miracles, I\u2019m up for it. I\u2019m intrigued by everything wonderful and wacky about religion. Whether it is serious or silly I\u2019m delighted by it. Mother Theresa appearing in a bagel? Hindu elephant gods drinking milk? Apparitions of Mary or the golden tablets of the Mormons<\/a> and the angel Moroni? Religion which denies the possibility of the supernatural isn\u2019t religion at all, it\u2019s rationalism. Religion involves the inexplicable, and I like the idea of sifting through it to sort out the divine from the devilish, the insane from the inspired and the fraud and fake from the genuine article.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Peter Manseau, the author of Rag and Bone<\/span>, seems to have the same curious sensitivity. His book promises to explore the whole world of relics in every religion, and to introduce us to this particular type of peculiarity.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Manseau is editor of Search magazine\u2013a non sectarian journal that explores the interface of faith and science. He is also a doctoral student and lecturer in religion at Georgetown. Once this is considered, Manseau\u2019s approach is understandable.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He has not set out to write a devotional book that inspires the faithful, nor has he attempted a faith-based overview of the subject similar to Joan Caroll Cruz\u2019s famous books on the incorrupt bodies of saints and Eucharistic miracles. Instead his book is part memoir, part travel book, part investigative journalism. He attempts an objective approach to the subject for the general reader. He comes at it from unusual angles and\u00a0surprising\u00a0starting places. This is both the book\u2019s strength and it\u2019s weakness.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The book is an enjoyable read, and some of the fascination with relics is akin to the same instinct that makes us slow down for car wrecks. There\u2019s something intriguingly vital and visceral about corpses, body parts and skeletons on display. I enjoyed Manseau\u2019s travel stories and was interested in the other religions that venerate relics, but as a Catholic what seemed to be missing was a really in depth theological treatment of why we venerate relics.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Manseau spent a good bit of time on the more ludicrous relic stories, (like the prepuce of Jesus) but I was looking for a serious consideration of the more amazing stories of genuinely incorrupt bodies and relics that seem to work miracles. I wanted him to discuss St Bernadette and St Charbel for example. I also wish he had spent more time on the grand daddy of all relics: the Shroud of Turin.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I enjoyed this book and recommend it, but I put the book down wishing that the author had been both more skeptical and<\/span>\u00a0more believing. He should have pushed harder to expose and dismiss the frauds and fakes, but he should also have pushed harder into the realm of the genuinely inexplicable, bizarre and stupendous. The book could have taken us more deeply into the realm of the unknown leaving us full of bemused wonder. As it is I felt I had paid a fleeting visit to a curious museum\u2013a sort of ecclesiastical Ripley\u2019s Believe it or Not.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What I\u2019m digging at is this: Manseau has written a good book. He writes well and is creative, but his standpoint remains within the detached, bemused, \u2018objectivity\u2019 of the world of conventional academia. Such a bizarre topic would have been better served with a more \u2018off the wall\u2019 style and standpoint. In other words, the book\u00a0could have stood us on our heads, but I felt it only stood relics on their head.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Nevertheless, this is a good book which treats its subject with an openly pleasant curiosity and reverence. It is not an in depth, scholarly treatment of the subject. In the meantime, Rag and Bone<\/span>\u00a0is an enjoyable book on a fascinating subject. Give it a try.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was sent a copy of \u00a0a new book called Rag and Bone and asked to review it. I read everything people send me as I reckon that\u2019s one of the best ways to keep an open mind. Rag and Bone\u00a0is a book on relics.\u00a0 Now, if it\u2019s about relics or incorrupt bodies of saints […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRag and Bone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was sent a copy of \u00a0a new book called Rag and Bone and asked to review it. 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