An Embodied Religion

Overview & Synopsis

From the images carved and painted to the buildings edified, from liturgical objects to reliquaries and tombs, from books to personal objects of piety, this volume reflects the many domains where the relation between materiality and devotion can be a prospect and a problem. It intersects the material, functional, performative and aesthetic dimensions with the different readings it calls for, the cognitive and emotional apprehensions, the representations (erudite and popular) it associates with, the practices that it sustains, the memories that polarize and legitimize, the powers that were affirmed through it. It discloses the diversity of variants such as wealth and social position, literate training, and gender differences.