Saints and Sacred Matter: The Cult of Relics in Byzantium and Beyond (Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Symposia and Colloquia)

Enshrined In Sumptuous Metal, Ivory, Or Stone Containers, Relics Formed An Important Physical And Spiritual Bond Between Heaven And Earth, Linking Humankind To Their Saintly Advocates In Heaven. As They Were Carried In Liturgical Processions, Used In Imperial Ceremonies, And Called Upon In Legal Disputes And Crises, Relics—and, By Extension, Their Precious Containers And Built Shrines—provided A Visible Link Between The Living And The Venerated Dead. Saints And Sacred Matter Explores The Embodied Aspects Of The Divine—physical Remains Of Holy Men And Women And Objects Associated With Them. Contributors Explore How Those Remains, Or Relics, Linked The Past And Present With An Imagined Future. Many Of The Chapters Focus On The Christian Context, Both East And West, Where Relics Testified To Christ’s Presence And Ministry On Earth And Established A Powerful Connection Between God And Humans After His Resurrection. Other Religious Traditions From The Ancient World Such As Judaism And Islam Are Frequently Thought To Have Had No Relics, But Contributions To This Volume Show That Muslims And Jews Too Had A Veneration For The Corporeal That Is Comparable To That Of Their Christian Counterparts.-- Introduction / Cynthia Hahn And Holger A. Klein -- Relic, Icon, And Architecture : The Material Articulation Of The Holy In East Christian Art / Jaś Elsner -- An Evolving Tradition In Latin Christianity / Julia M.h. Smith -- Jewish Veneration Of The Special Dead In Late Antiquity And Beyond / Ra'anan Boustan -- Medieval Muslim Martyrs To The Plague : Venerating The Companions Of Muhammad In The Jordan Valley / Nancy Khaler -- Figuring Relics : A Poetics Of Enshrinement / Patricia Cox Miller -- Liturgical Time And Holy Land Reliquaries In Early Byzantium / Derek Krueger -- Sacred Installations : The Material Conditions Of Relic Collections In Late Antique Churches / Ann Marie Yasin -- Grant Us To Share A Place And Lot With You : Relics And Byzantine Chuech Building (9th-15th Centuries) / Vasileios Marinis And Robert Ousterhout -- Spolia As Relics? Relics As Spoils? : The Meaning And Functions Of Spoils In Western Medieval Reliquaries / Hiltrud Westermann-angerhausen -- The Sting Of Death Is The Thorn, But The Circle Of The Crown Is The Victory Over Death : The Making Of The Crown Of Thorns / Cynthia Hahn -- The Relics Of New Saints : Deposition, Translation And Veneration In Middle And Late Byzantium / Alice-mary Talbot -- Materiality And The Sacred : Byzantine Reliquaries And The Rhetoric Of Enshrinement / Holger A. Klein -- Byzantium And Beyond : Relics Of The Infancy Of Christ / Jannic Durand -- The Incarnate Shrine : Sh'ism And The Cult Of Kingship In Early Safavid Iran / Kishwar Rizvi -- The Relics Of Scholarship : On The Production, Reproduction, And Interpretation Of Hallowed Remains In Late Antiquity, Byzantium, Early Islam, And The Medieval West / Anthony Cutler. Edited By Cynthia Hahn And Holger Klein. The Majority Of Chapters In This Volume Were Presented As Papers At The 2011 Dumbarton Oaks Symposium 'saints And Sacred Matter: The Cult Of Relics In Byzantium And Beyond.' The Symposium Was Held In Two Places, Namely At Dumbarton Oaks And The Walters Art Museum In Baltimore, Coinciding With The Second U.s. Venue Of The International Loan Exhibition Treasures Of Heaven: Saints, Relics, And Devotion In The Medieval Europe [ [cleveland, Ohio] : Cleveland Museum Of Art ; Baltimore : Walters Art Museum ; London : The British Museum ; New Haven [conn.] : Distributed By Yale University Press, C2010; Exhibition Held Oct. 17, 2010-jan. 17, 2011, The Cleveland Museum Of Art, Cleveland, Feb. 13-may 15, 2011, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, And June 23-oct. 9, 2011, The British Museum, London].--page Vii. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.