Redigeret af Henning Laugerud og Laura Katrine Skinnebach.Sekulariseringen af den vestlige kultur er om ikke en myte, sa betydeligt overvurderet. I dagens aktuelle debatter om religiositet, anerkender langt de fleste kristendommens indflydelse pa Europas historie, filosofi og kultur.Instruments of Devotion er en tvAerfaglig antologi skrevet af internationalt anerkendte forskere fra The European Network on the Instruments of Devotion, ENID, og i 11 artikler fokuseres specifikt pa de instrumentielle aspekter af andagt og fromhedspraksis i perioden fra det 14. arhundrede og frem til i dag. Artiklerne diskuterer relationen mellem den materielle kultur og det religiose liv; hvordan musik, bonneboger, litteratur og billeder har udtrykt og intensiveret fromhed og pietet i den kristne kultur i et historisk perspektiv.Antologiens mange forskelligartede indgangsvinkler spAender fra middelalderens visuelle teorier til postmodernismens perspektiver pa katolicismen og illustrerer saledes det komplekse monster af Aendringer, kontinuitet og sammenhAenge i den europAeiske kultur- og pietetshistorie.

Redigeret af Henning Laugerud og Laura Katrine Skinnebach.Sekulariseringen af den vestlige kultur er om ikke en myte, sa betydeligt overvurderet. I dagens aktuelle debatter om religiositet, anerkender langt de fleste kristendommens indflydelse pa Europas historie, filosofi og kultur.Instruments of Devotion er en tvAerfaglig antologi skrevet af internationalt anerkendte forskere fra The European Network on the Instruments of Devotion, ENID, og i 11 artikler fokuseres specifikt pa de instrumentielle aspekter af andagt og fromhedspraksis i perioden fra det 14. arhundrede og frem til i dag. Artiklerne diskuterer relationen mellem den materielle kultur og det religiose liv; hvordan musik, bonneboger, litteratur og billeder har udtrykt og intensiveret fromhed og pietet i den kristne kultur i et historisk perspektiv.Antologiens mange forskelligartede indgangsvinkler spAender fra middelalderens visuelle teorier til postmodernismens perspektiver pa katolicismen og illustrerer saledes det komplekse monster af Aendringer, kontinuitet og sammenhAenge i den europAeiske kultur- og pietetshistorie.

This volume explores aspects of the devotional world of late medieval northern Europe, with a special emphasis on how people interacted with texts, images, artifacts, and other instruments of piety at the level of the senses. The book focuses on the materiality of medieval religion and the manner in which Christians were encouraged to engage their senses in their devotional practices: gazing, hearing, touching, tasting, and committing to memory. In so doing, it brings together the ideals of medieval mystical writing and the increasingly tangible and material practice of piety, which would become characteristic of the period. [Subject: History, Medieval Studies, European Studies, Religious Studies]

There is a striking similarity between Marian devotional songs and secular love songs of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Two disparate genres--one sacred, the other secular; one Latin, the other vernacular--both praise an idealized, impossibly virtuous woman. Each does so through highly stylized derivations of traditional medieval song forms--Marian prayer derived from earlier Gregorian chant, and love songs and lyrics from medieval courtly song. Yet despite their obvious similarities, the two musical and poetic traditions have rarely been studied together. Author David J. Rothenberg takes on this task with remarkable success, producing a useful and broad introduction to Marian music and liturgy, and then coupling that with an incisive comparative analysis of these devotional forms and the words and music of secular love songs of the period. The Flower of Paradise examines the interplay of Marian devotional and secular poetics within polyphonic music from ca. 1200 to ca. 1500. Through case studies of works that demonstrate a specific symbolic resonance between Marian devotion and secular song, the book illustrates the distinctive ethos of this period in European culture. Rothenberg makes use of an impressive command of liturgical and religious studies, literature and poetry, and art history to craft a study with wide application across disciplinary boundaries. With its broad scope and unique, incisive analysis, this book will open up new ways of thinking about the history and development of secular and sacred music and the Marian tradition for scholars, students, and anyone with an interest in medieval and Renaissance religious culture.

The Arma Christi, the cluster of objects associated with Christ’s Passion, was one of the most familiar iconographic devices of European medieval and early modern culture. From the weapons used to torment and sacrifice the body of Christ sprang a reliquary tradition that produced active and contemplative devotional practices, complex literary narratives, intense lyric poems, striking visual images, and innovative architectural ornament. This collection displays the fascinating range of intellectual possibilities generated by representations of these medieval ’objects,’ and through the interdisciplinary collaboration of its contributors produces a fresh view of the multiple intersections of the spiritual and the material in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It also includes a new and authoritative critical edition of the Middle English Arma Christi poem known as ’O Vernicle’ that takes account of all twenty surviving manuscripts. The book opens with a substantial introduction that surveys previous scholarship and situates the Arma in their historical and aesthetic contexts. The ten essays that follow explore representative examples of the instruments of the Passion across a broad swath of history, from some of their earliest formulations in late antiquity to their reformulations in early modern Europe. Together, they offer the first large-scale attempt to understand the arma Christi as a unique cultural phenomenon of its own, one that resonated across centuries in multiple languages, genres, and media. The collection directs particular attention to this array of implements as an example of the potency afforded material objects in medieval and early modern culture, from the glittering nails of the Old English poem Elene to the coins of the Middle English poem ’Sir Penny,’ from garments and dice on Irish tomb sculptures to lanterns and ladders in Hieronymus Bosch’s panel painting of St. Christopher, and from the altar of the Sistine Chapel to the printed prayer books of the Reformation.

"Additional photographs by Flip Putthoff and Russell Cothren."

A Missions Devotional. For 31 days, step back in time and see how God worked in and through men and women like you. Read their stories. Hear their own words. Feel their heartbeat. Experience their struggles. Get closer to their God. Discover the source of their strength in the promises of God's Word. This devotional book is a gateway to spiritual growth through the truths of God's Word and the examples of those who lived God's promises.

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s new open access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Hindu devotional traditions have long been recognized for their sacred geographies as well as the sensuous aspects of their devotees' experiences. Largely overlooked, however, are the subtle links between these religious expressions. Based on intensive fieldwork conducted among worshippers in Bengal’s Navadvip-Mayapur sacred complex, this book discusses the diverse and contrasting ways in which Bengal-Vaishnava devotees experience sacred geography and divinity. Sukanya Sarbadhikary documents an extensive range of practices, which draw on the interactions of mind, body, and viscera. She shows how perspectives on religion, embodiment, affect, and space are enriched when sacred spatialities of internal and external forms are studied at once.

The performing arts of Kerala Kathakali, Kutiyattam, Mohiniattam, and other forms of dance and drama occupy a vital space in India s creative imagination. All these performances move to a music that is supported by Kerala s indigenous musical instruments a variety of drums and clappers, as well as a smaller number of pipes and strings. Quite a few of these instruments are also found associated with rituals and festivities in the temples of Kerala: the Itakka, Chenta, Timila, Milavu, Suddha Maddalam all membranophones; the aerophones Kurum Kulal and Kompu Vadyam; and Ilattalam, an idiophone. Notes on these instruments by a devoted student of the performing arts of Kerala are put together in this small volume the first English-language publication on the subject. Illustrations of each instrument accompany the texts. The author brings to his task the benefit of an intimate knowledge of each instrument, acquired through years of fieldwork, as well as an erudition born of his immersion in literary classics in Tamil, Malayalam and Sanskrit. The pieces here are a source too of the folklore associated with Kerala s musical instruments. The chief strength of the book, however, lies in the precise information it provides on each instrument its dimensions, materials, construction, playing techniques, methods of training, and, not least, its music. Apart from musicians and musicologists, this book would interest students of Kerala s folklore and anthropology, as well as general readers with a special interest in the arts and culture of Kerala.