List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: The Public Problem of Religious Doings; Claire Maria Chambers, Simon W. du Toit and Joshua Edelman PART I: PUBLICS AND THE NON-DEMOCRATIC STATE 1. The Market for Argument; Simon W. du Toit 2. Public Acts of Private Devotion: From Silent Prayer to Ceremonies in France's Early Seminaries; Joy Palacios 3. The Durban Passion Play: Religious Performance, Power and Difference; Michael Lambert and Tamantha Hammerschlag Discussion PART II: VISCERAL PUBLICS 4. Church on/as Stage: Stewart Hedlam's Rhetorical Theology; Tom Grimwood and Peter Yeandle 5. The Intolerable, Intimate Public of Contemporary American Street Preaching; Joshua Edelman 6. Faith, Fright, and Excessive Feeling; Kris Messer Discussion PART III: PUBLICS AND COMMODIFICATION 7. Congregations, Audiences, Actors: Religious Performance and the Individual in Nineteenth-Century Nottingham; Jo Robinson and Lucie Sutherland 8. Sufi Ceremonies in Private and Public; Esra Çizmeci 9. From Religion to Culture: The Performative P?j? and Spectacular Religion in India; Saayan Chattopadhyay Discussion PART IV: EPHEMERAL PUBLICS 10. Coming Out of the (Confessional) Closet: Christian Performatives, Queer Performativities; Stephen D. Seely 11. Performing Jewish Sexuality: Mikvah Spaces in Orthodox Jewish Publics; Shira Schwartz 12. Busking and the Performance of Generosity: A Political Economy of the Spiritual Gift; Claire Maria Chambers Discussion