Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe

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書刊名 TitleChristian Materiality:
An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe
作者 AuthorCaroline Walker Bynum
出版社 PublisherZone Books
出版年 Year2011
語言 Language英文
ISBN
(10 / 13)		ISBN-10: 1935408100
ISBN-13: 978-1935408109
Bibliography Reference (STC, Duff, GW . . .)
來源網址
Web Link		http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Materiality-Religion
-Medieval-Europe/dp/1935408100
評論者Reviewer王明月、蔡幸紋
撰寫日期 Date2015. 08.11

Ø 書評 Review (中英文不限 Chinese or English) 

許多學者認為西歐中世紀晚期的信仰文化著重浮誇並強調物質/身體接觸以證明信仰之虔誠，例如自我鞭笞隊伍（flagellants）、鮮血淋漓的基督受難像、聖物膜拜、聖方濟會信徒對於出現在身體上奧秘聖痕（stigmata）的執迷等。本書作者Caroline W. Bynum探討西歐晚期基督信仰文化下基督教徒對於物質/身體的迷戀以及教會規範對於這樣的宗教現象既反對卻默許的窘境。依據基督徒信仰上帝永恆不變、無形、無所不在、無所不能的基本教則，Bynum討論在這樣一個因戰亂、瘟疫、氣候變遷、地震等天災人禍變動不斷的時代裡，西歐中世紀基督信徒們唯有透過可用眼睛看見、雙手觸碰、身體可感受等實體實質的「物件」來真實感受上帝的永恆「不變」，親身體驗如慈母般的耶穌基督為人類受難時的苦，以物質/身體以求靈魂的救贖。透過基督信仰儀式「聖體餐」，信徒們不但可以實質觸碰的到代表基督血肉的葡萄酒和餅，更可因為吃進這樣神聖而實質的物件（聖體餐）達到與基督身、心、靈合一的宗教經驗。本書中，Bynum將神聖「物質/ 實體」分為四個部份：強調基督流血受難的聖像畫、神聖物件（如十字架、基督受難時的刑具等）、聖者遺骨、以及聖徒行使之奇蹟。透過這些身體感官可觸及之物件，Bynum探討中世紀晚期基督信仰文化對於物質、身體、迷戀血泊的宗教及歷史意義，進而探究中世紀晚期基督信仰文化對十五世紀至十七世紀西歐宗教改革運動的影響。

關於作者：
Caroline Walker Bynum 任教於美國普林斯頓大學西歐中世紀歷史學系暨高等研究所，亦為美國哥倫比亞大學歷史系退休教授。著有Christian Materiality: An Essay on Late Medieval Religion (New York: Zone Books, 2011), Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987), Jesus as Mother:  Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1982) 等書。
 
本書目次如下：
Introduction
1. Visual Matter
2. The Power of Objects
3. Holy Pieces
4. Matter and Miracles
5. Conclusion

Review:
Editorial Reviews
This is one of those rare books that can make one look at the world in a new way... An extraordinary, moving and thought-provoking evocation of late medieval devotion in all its contradictions, paradoxes and multiplicities.
—Helen Castor Times Higher Education
 
Over the past 30 years, Bynum has published an initially contentious series of books that have illuminated many aspects of the oddness of the medieval world... This time she focuses on Christians' intense devotion to objects that they believed both signaled and embodied God's essence and glory.
 —Chronicle of Higher Education
 
“Caroline Bynum is America’s foremost scholar of medieval religion. . . . [This book] is the distillation of years of learning and accumulated insight, the work of a mature scholar at the height of her powers. It will delight, challenge, and energize her fellow historians. It will also inform, fascinate, and on occasion curdle the blood of the intelligent general reader. And books that achieve that enviable double objective are as rare and precious as the relics of the saints.”
—New York Review of Books

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