Experiencing Material Christianity : Piety, Perception and Performance from the Middle Ages to the Present

This volume brings the history of Christian devotional culture in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present to life through the objects, texts, and images that people have used to practise and express their religion.

At the heart of Experiencing Material Christianity are 21 empirical case studies, each of which captures the writer''s encounter with a particular ‘thing’ that has played a role in the religious lives of European Christians. The examples are drawn from across the continent and include both well-known objects, such as the famous Scala Santa, or Holy Stairs, in Rome and the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, and lesser-known places and curiosities, such as a pilgrimage site in the mountains of Kosovo and votive objects from Greek Orthodox devotional practice. The concise and illustrated chapters provide an accessible and compelling overview of the breadth of material expressions of Christianity in Europe.

The introduction and afterword frame the rich examples by outlining overarching themes in the study of material religion, including practices, expressions, and instruments, that reoccur throughout the collection. As a whole, the volume acts as a fresh entry point to the multi-disciplinary study of the cultural and material dimension of Christian devotion that shows how the material and the sensual have interacted with the spiritual across several centuries throughout Europe.