Dimensions of the Holy and the Sacred in 16th and 17th Century

Dimensions of the Holy and the Sacred in 16th and 17th Century

Veranstalter
Dr. Teresa Hiergeist (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg); Dr. Ismael del Olmo (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
Veranstaltungsort
Ort
Erlangen/Nürnberg
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
05.07.2018 - 07.07.2018
Deadline
15.02.2018
Website
Von
Teresa Hiergeist

The sacred, which is never inherent in any time, place, object or action, may nevertheless illuminate the communities of sense that perceive, name, and impose its various reflections. The traces of the sacred burst into the profane by a process of differentiation, a process that contributes to change the perception of time and space, to transcend the boundaries between subject and object, to stimulate states of mind oscillating between fascination, fear, illumination, and horror. The conventional character of the sacred suggests one of its fundamental principles: its cohesive force, its capacity to consolidate a common identity and destiny. The community builds, organizes and institutionalizes rituals and conducts; most commonly, this entails the suppression of what the community perceives as a violation of its orthodoxy, a dissidence often characterized as heresy, superstition, or sacrilege. The congregation of an orthodoxy and a heterodoxy around a particular notion of the holy might also form an origin for a religion.

In short, the theorization, materialization, and administration of the sacred allow us to focus on the experience of the sacred, and hence, on the society in which it echoes. Indeed, although these structural principles of the sacred are part of an anthropological constant, it becomes evident that its manifestations are subject to historical conditions. Therefore, it is particularly interesting to analyze 16th and 17th century Europe from a point of view focusing on the sacred for several reasons. First, the reformist’s, humanist’s, and sceptical’s attacks on the economy of the sacred proposed by Rome suggest a process of desacralization, involving the rejection of relics, devotions, saints, sacraments, and sacramentals. Second, popular adaptations of the Christian religion oppose the traditional church with alternative systems of sacrality; in the early modern period, the Counter-Reformation will approach Europe’s “Interior Indies” to have greater control over the beliefs of the laity and achieve a proper evangelization. Third, and as a projection of the European situation, the rites and beliefs of African, American, and Asian communities, impervious to the efforts of christianization, are considered alien sources of the sacred, which are tried to be neutralized by the Inquisition, preachers, and anti-heretical propagandists. Fourth, there exists an extensive body of texts and material evidence on the sacred: namely testimonies of mystical experiences and hierophanies; representations and descriptions of pilgrimages, relics, mystery plays, and devotions; inquisitorial, pastoral and theological sources on urban and rural superstitions; exegetical, theological, and scientific debates on the comprehension and performance of the sacred; chronicles, letters, reports, bulls, canons, and laws which document the normative interest of the Catholic and reformed churches on the sacred.

Taking an intercultural perspective, the interdisciplinary conference wishes to analyze the specific characteristics and variations of the holy and the sacred in 16th and 17th Europe. In order to reconstruct the diverse aspects of the ideas of the holy and the practices of the sacred in the respective societies and religious communities, the conference focuses on their discourses, conceptualizations, experiences, and materializations. Furthermore, attention will be payed to the historical dynamic of the conflict between institutional, charismatic and popular approaches to the Christian sacred. Researchers in the fields of history, religious studies, history of art, literature, communication theory, and cultural studies are invited to contribute with their analyses on the concepts and the practices of the holy and the sacred in early modern Europe. The organizers suggest an orientation towards the following topics:

- the semantics of the holy and the sacred in the 16th and the 17th century.

- the experience of the numinous: its preconditions, perceptions, understandings, and descriptions.

- spaces and times (churches, chapels, shrines, pilgrimage sites, festivities): their structure, perception, localization.

- objects (books, statues, relics, images): their uses, their setting into scene, their textual and iconographic representations.

- acts and actions (rituals, processions, pilgrimage, liturgy, mystery plays): their actors, performances, cultural functions, textual representations.

- mediators (saints, priests, monks, mystics, preachers): their election, their role, their representation.

- the challenges of the institutionalization of the sacred: construction and monopolization of the sacred by Catholic and reformed churches; control of charismatic and popular perceptions and experiences of the holy; conceptualization and suppression of superstition, sacrilege, and heresy.

Those interested in participating in the conference are kindly asked to submit a 500-word abstract in English, German, French, or Spanish by 15.02.2018 to the following addresses:

Teresa Hiergeist (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg): teresa.hiergeist@fau.de
Ismael del Olmo (Universidad de Buenos Aires): delolmoismael@hotmail.com

Programm

Kontakt

Teresa Hiergeist

Bismarckstr.1, 91054 Erlangen

09131/ 85 -22320

teresa.hiergeist@fau.de


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Englisch
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