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Whether they were utopian communitarians, sun-seeking gurus, or Protestant health reformers, Southern California's spiritual seekers drew on the United States' deepening global encounters and consumer cultures to pair religious and personal reinvention with cultural and spiritual revitalization. Through a rereading of the region's cultural landscape, Golden States provides an alternative history of California religion and spirituality, showing that seekers developed a number of paths to fulfillment that enhanced the region's lifestyle brand. Drawing on case studies as varied as surfing and yoga practices, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, and the only designated "Blue Zone" in the United States, this work explores the long-term impact of alternative beliefs on the region. In doing so, it highlights the ongoing tensions between privileging personal choice and pursuing social good as communities navigated whether the commitment to the emotional and therapeutic needs and desires of individual believers should be pursued at the expense of broader efforts to achieve collective well-being.
Price: $29.95
Pages: 314
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
03 September 2024
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520399730
Format: Paperback
“An excellent book and a worthwhile read for anyone interested in American religion and/or the roots of spirituality as a modality in the contemporary United States. The book would fit in any number of courses on matters related to religion and race, religion and health, religion and the body, spirituality, religious economies, or American religious history.”
— American Religion
“Luhr offers an even-handed, deeply researched, and engaging account of how syncretically blended spiritual practices emerged, evolved, and became one of California’s most influential cultural exports.”
— Nova Relgio
Eileen Luhr is Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches US cultural history and history pedagogy and coordinates the History/Social Science credential program for teachers. Her previous book was Witnessing Suburbia: Conservatives and Christian Youth Culture.
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE. SPIRITUAL VISIONARIES, HISTORICAL IMAGINARIES, AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT AS
THERAPEUTIC LEISURE
1. “A Paradise for the Healthseeker and Retired Capitalist”: Katherine Tingley and
San Diego’s Early Therapeutic Religious Economy
2. “Efficient America,” “Spiritual India,” and America’s Transnational Religious Imagination
3. Message on a Bottle: Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and the Evolution of a Spiritual Vision
PART TWO. RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL BEFLIEF IN CIVIC AND SOCIAL IMAGINARIES
4. Wellness in the “Blue Zone”: The Cultural Politics of Vegetarianism in Loma Linda
5. Seeker, Surfer, Yogi: The Progressive Religious Imagination and the Politics of Place
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE. SPIRITUAL VISIONARIES, HISTORICAL IMAGINARIES, AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT AS
THERAPEUTIC LEISURE
1. “A Paradise for the Healthseeker and Retired Capitalist”: Katherine Tingley and
San Diego’s Early Therapeutic Religious Economy
2. “Efficient America,” “Spiritual India,” and America’s Transnational Religious Imagination
3. Message on a Bottle: Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and the Evolution of a Spiritual Vision
PART TWO. RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL BEFLIEF IN CIVIC AND SOCIAL IMAGINARIES
4. Wellness in the “Blue Zone”: The Cultural Politics of Vegetarianism in Loma Linda
5. Seeker, Surfer, Yogi: The Progressive Religious Imagination and the Politics of Place
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index