medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Sooo. . .
are you saying this would not be the book to have on the subject?
What book on the subject would be good to have?
I'm extremely interested in the subject, but would rather have a good, scholarly work - although in a pinch, something may be better than nothing.
Thanks
George the Less
On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:35:53 -0000, John Briggs wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>Apologies for reviving a thread that is nearly a year old, but I have just
>been reading (probably as a penance):
>Brian Repsher, The Rite of Church Dedication in the Early Medieval Era
>(Edwin Mellen Press, 1998)
>[As the book was published ten years ago, it is probably too late to have a
>pop at the author, but it it is not too late to have a crack at the
>publisher: the Edwin Mellen Press is widely regarded as the academic
>equivalent of vanity publishing. There is valuable material in this book,
>but it is carefully hidden. This book sorely needed an editor and referees.
>The author prints English translations of the "Ordo ad benedicandam
>ecclesiam" from the Romano-Germanic Pontifical, and of the contemporary
>anonymous (but Amalarius-ish) exposition of it, "Quid significent duodecim
>candelae" - but not the original texts, although these are liberally quoted
>in footnotes. The author exhorts us to read the translations before his two
>chapters devoted to "analysis" of them, but as his idea of analysis is
>somewhere between summary and paraphrase, this leads to much repetition and
>tediousness...]
>Anyway, for our purposes it suffices to say that in neither the Carolingian
>rite, nor its exposition, is there *any* mention of the heavenly Jerusalem!
>There is precious little mention of the earthly one either, except for a
>suggestion that the consecration rite might be replicating Jewish practices
>with respect to the Temple. In fact, Repsher demonstrates that the
>dedication rite is closely modelled on a baptismal rite of the sixth century
>[actually a combined baptism/confirmation/first communion]. It was clearly
>felt that the church *building* itself needed to be baptised and welcomed
>into the Christian community, and this connection is explicitlty made by the
>Carolingian expositor.
>Of course, Jon was asking about Gothic churches, and if there really was any
>connection to the Heavenly Jerusalem, Suger may have made it up out of whole
>cloth - but the idea may not have been widely shared.
>John Briggs
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