Religious statues and personhood : testing the role of materiality /
Whitehead, Amy,author.
"Objects such as statues and icons have long been problematic in the study of religion, especially in European Christianity's. Through examining two groups, the contemporary Pagan Glastonbury Goddess religion in the Southwest of England and a cult of the Virgin Mary in Andalusia, Spain, Amy Whitehead asserts that objects can be more than representational or symbolic. In the context of increasing academic interest in materiality in religions and cultures, she shows how statues, or 'things', are not always interacted with as if they are inert material against which we typically define ourselves as 'modern' humans. Bringing two distinct cultures and religions into tension, animism and 'the fetish' are used as ways in which to think about how humans interact with religious statues in Western Europe and beyond. Both theoretical and descriptive, the book illustrates how religions and cultural practices can be re-examined as performances that necessarily involve not only human persons, but also objects"--
"Demonstrates how the relationships that devotees have with statue forms of the divine feminine illustrate the powerful relational roles of matter and materiality in religion"--
Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-194) and index.
1. Introduction -- 2. The problem of materiality -- 3. The Virgin of Alcala de los Gazules -- 4. The Glastonbury Goddess, England -- 5. Relationships, relating, rationality -- 6. Statue persons -- 7. Performance, display and relational aesthetics -- 8. Gift, value and the retish: testing the roles of 0fferings -- Conclusion.
"Objects such as statues and icons have long been problematic in the study of religion, especially in European Christianity's. Through examining two groups, the contemporary Pagan Glastonbury Goddess religion in the Southwest of England and a cult of the Virgin Mary in Andalusia, Spain, Amy Whitehead asserts that objects can be more than representational or symbolic. In the context of increasing academic interest in materiality in religions and cultures, she shows how statues, or 'things', are not always interacted with as if they are inert material against which we typically define ourselves as 'modern' humans. Bringing two distinct cultures and religions into tension, animism and 'the fetish' are used as ways in which to think about how humans interact with religious statues in Western Europe and beyond. Both theoretical and descriptive, the book illustrates how religions and cultural practices can be re-examined as performances that necessarily involve not only human persons, but also objects"--
"Demonstrates how the relationships that devotees have with statue forms of the divine feminine illustrate the powerful relational roles of matter and materiality in religion"--
Goddesses.
Idols and images
Statues
Women in art
Matter