Through an analysis of successive reformations of the body, this innovative and penetrating book constructs a fascinating and wide-ranging account of how the creation and evolution of different patterns of human community are intimately related to the somatic experience of the sacred. The book places the relationship between embodiment and the sacred at the crux of social theory and casts a fresh light on the emergence and transformation of modernity. It critically examines the thesis that the rational projects of modern embodiment have died and gone to cyberspace and suggests that we are witnessing the rise of a virulent, effervescent form of the sacred that is changing how people see and keep in touch with the world around them. Grounded in classical and contemporary theory, Re-Forming the Body makes a seminal contribution to understanding the relationship between the sacred and profane: the world of religious and moral sentiment and the world of the body. It will be essential reading for graduates, postgraduates, and advanced undergraduates in sociology and social theory, the body, religious studies, cultural studies, and related areas.