medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Response to Christine in Baltimore:
> The practice reeks of superstition and reinforces stereotypes of
> Christians, especially Catholics, as mindless hicks.
Given the context of a Medieval Religion discussion list, this is an interesting response. I am
currently reading a recent book that explores just this sort of instrumentality: Robert Maniura
and Rupert Shepherd, eds, Presence: The Inherence of the Prototype within Images and
Other Objects (Ashgate, 2005), which constitutes a cross-cultural exploration of just such
"superstition". Uses and beliefs of just this sort were widespread during the later Middle
Ages, although just such attitudes have hampered enormously any systematic study of them.
These attitudes, which consider thaumaturgical image use as "superstitious", far from being
"medieval", register more directly a 19th-century Catholic revisionism (which was far more
effective than previous Counter-Reformation efforts at the same thing) that I am beginning to
believe to be one of the greatest impediments to the recovery of medieval beliefs and
practices. For one fascinating late-medieval example quite close to the "St Joseph" practice,
see Spiegel der Seligkeit: Privates Bild und Frommigkeit im Spatmittelalter, exh. cat.
(Nuremberg, 2000), p. 177, which illustrates a bashed-up wooden sculpture of the Christ
Child which had been deliberated deposited under the floorboards of a house in Nuremberg,
in this case an undoubtedly apotropaic, rather than thaumaturgical, ritual. I have no idea if
the specific practice involving statues of St Joseph has any deep historical roots, but there
are certainly other current image practices that smack more profoundly of "superstition" and
that reflect deep-seated beliefs in the thaumaturgical and/or apotropaic potential of sacred
images. For my favourite, Google "Cocullo" and check out the images.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|