RT Article
T1 Cringing at Benevolence
JF Method & theory in the study of religion
VO 36
IS 1
SP 72
OP 78
A1 McCrary, Charles 1990-
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1876261536
AB Engaging with Logan’s third chapter, on the American Seamen’s Friends Society, this piece reflects on what it means to cringe in the context of a benevolent or charitable relationship. People cringe when they are made painfully aware of the gap between their self-conception (and/or their ideal self) and the way others perceive them. Logan shows us, in her study of the ASFS, the cringeworthy nature of antebellum benevolent societies: they learned about the objects of their benevolence (in this case, sailors), performed rituals alongside them, and attempted to befriend them, and yet they did not ultimately want to be them or be like them but, rather, to change them.
K1 Publics
K1 cringe
K1 Evangelicalism
K1 Benevolence
DO 10.1163/15700682-bja10110