The body is still in the air, but how to relate the ongoing theoretical discussion to the concrete bodies that were once its point of departure. That's the motivating question behind Begin with the Body , a volume of essays on corporeality, religion and gender, a collective enterprise of the Dutch Research Programm for Religion and Gender. Popular religion and corporeality, more often than not interact in ways fatal to women. However, overcoming the mind/body dualism is no longer the direct objective. Rather, researchers are examining the generally ambivalent experiences expressed here and the availability of alternative terms of designation. Paradoxical notions counteract the tendency to associate women with the body and to percieve the body as "positively feminine": fluid, open and receptive. In precise case-studies on biblical representations, religious ideals and devotional practices we are warned against easy appropriations, simple reversals, and quick conclusions. Changes in physical condition - disease, pain, aging - have a great impact on experiences of subjectivity and meaning. Physical changes can generate shifts in religious and political concepts, but the reverse is also possible. The contributions contain a wealth of material from the visual arts and literature, from biblical to post-modern times. All contributions are evocative, experimental and imaginative, inspiring more questions than answers. Can we avoid binary oppositions in our efforts to do away with them ? What about inspired corporeality and body-oriented transcendence ? Do these notions presuppose a physical God ? Does it make sense to seek revelation of a Divinity-corporeality relation as such ? The direction of answering differs. Common is the drive to connect.