Dancing in My Dreams
A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner
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- 21,99 €
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- 21,99 €
Publisher Description
If you don’t know Tina Turner’s spirituality, you don’t know Tina.
When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina’s journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture.
Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina’s Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in ’60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers’ disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina’s personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams as enlightening as the iconic singer herself.
Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year Award in Biography Finalist (2023)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Craig, a PhD candidate in religious studies at Stanford, debuts with a finely drawn portrait of the "queen of rock 'n' roll" and the spiritual beliefs that animated her life, from the gospel tradition of her childhood to her turn toward "metaphysical religion" (think psychics and spiritual seeking) during the 1960s and early '70s to her embrace of Buddhism. While Turner's abusive relationship with her bandmate and husband Ike Turner is well-known, less so is how the Buddhist tradition of chanting helped her summon the strength to leave him in 1976; according to Craig, Turner considered her introduction to the practice to be an "indication that her place in the universe was indeed being rearranged." As Turner's career skyrocketed, her religious devotion deepened and she eventually became "one of the highest-profile African American Buddhists." After she retired from live performances in May 2009 at age 69, she spent her latter years working as a Buddhist teacher and recording interfaith albums. Craig skillfully balances rigorous research with insight into Turner's psyche to unearth new dimensions of her life and career, and in the process gives welcome due to the oft-neglected role of Black Americans in the history of Buddhism in the West. Even the most ardent of Turner's fans will be enlightened.
