The Body in Medieval Spirituality: A Rationale for Pilgrimage and the Veneration of Relics
Christian pilgrimage was one of the most striking phenomena characterising medieval societies. A physical encounter with the relics of saints often constituted the spiritual summit of the pilgrim's journey. In order to understand the importance of physicality and the rationale behind the venera...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2018]
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| In: |
Interdisciplinary journal of research on religion
Year: 2018, Volume: 14, Pages: 1-20 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Christianity
/ Relic veneration
/ Bodiliness
/ Interpretation of
/ Saint's life
/ History 0-1500
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CE Christian art KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KAC Church history 500-1500; Middle Ages KCD Hagiography; saints NBE Anthropology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei registrierungspflichtig) |
| Summary: | Christian pilgrimage was one of the most striking phenomena characterising medieval societies. A physical encounter with the relics of saints often constituted the spiritual summit of the pilgrim's journey. In order to understand the importance of physicality and the rationale behind the veneration of relics, it is necessary to consider the philosophical recategorisation of the human body and the Christological reflections of Christian writers during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This article presents some exemplificative texts, which show the emergence of a Christian philosophy within which the human body assumed a new dignity and new powers. When juxtaposed to these metaphysical and theological discourses, the acts of veneration towards the bodies and relics of saints become intelligible, suggesting that this aspect of medieval spirituality should be seen not merely as a fideistic and irrational phenomenon but rather as the manifestation of an internally coherent cosmology. |
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| ISSN: | 1556-3723 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Interdisciplinary journal of research on religion
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