Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church. By Michael Philip Penn

This work seeks to explore how a common gesture in Christian practice, the kiss, given on a variety of occasions in early Christian life and ritual, was invested with implicit meaning and how further meaning was drawn out discursively in reflection upon the praxis. This enquiry is undertaken with th...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stewart-Sykes, Alistair (Author)
Format: Electronic Review
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Oxford University Press 2007
In: The journal of theological studies
Year: 2007, Volume: 58, Issue: 1, Pages: 266-268
Review of:Kissing Christians (Philadelphia, Pa. : Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2005) (Stewart-Sykes, Alistair)
Further subjects:B Book review
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This work seeks to explore how a common gesture in Christian practice, the kiss, given on a variety of occasions in early Christian life and ritual, was invested with implicit meaning and how further meaning was drawn out discursively in reflection upon the praxis. This enquiry is undertaken with the benefit of a serious opening discussion of the practice of Greco-Roman society and on a substantial theoretical foundation which is built up as the work proceeds. In essence Penn sees the kiss as constructing and representing social boundaries, fundamentally building up the self-conscious cohesion of early Christian groups and enabling them in turn to define both their inner divisions (such as distinctions between clergy and laity) and those outside.
ISSN:1477-4607
Contains:Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/jts/fll114