Sensing the Sacred in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

This volume explores changes in attitudes towards, ideas about, and experiences of religion and the senses in the medieval and early modern periods, challenging traditional periodization and emphasizing the multisensoriality and embodied nature of religious practices and experiences. The senses were active and reactive, responding to and initiating change, and the book will be essential reading for scholars of religion and the senses, as well as those interested in histories of medieval and early modern bodies, material culture, affects, and affect theory.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 13 June 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive volume explores profound shifts in attitudes towards, ideas about, and experiences of religion and the senses during the medieval and early modern periods. Spanning a vast temporal and geographical expanse, it challenges conventional periodization frameworks by highlighting both continuities and changes. Instead of narrowly focusing on individual senses, the book emphasizes the multisensoriality and embodied nature of religious practices and experiences, refusing to draw simplistic distinctions between asceticism and excess. The senses were not mere passive receptors but active and reactive agents, responding to and initiating transformations. As the contributions in this collection reveal, sensing the sacred in the pre-modern era was a complex, intricate, and constantly evolving process shaped by a multitude of factors, including individuals, environments, and religious transformations. This volume will be of vital importance to scholars of religion and the senses, as well as to anyone interested in the histories of medieval and early modern bodies, material culture, affects, and affect theory.

Weight: 500g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032339108