Material Religion in Byzantium and Beyond

Papers from the 54th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies

Ine Jacobs, Jaś Elsner, Julia M. H. Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040640456
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Medieval Art
• Index: History

The theoretical framework known as Material Religion has emerged as a vibrant and profoundly influential approach within religious studies over the past two decades. Originating in the first decade of the 21st century from currents within cultural anthropology, Material Religion challenges a foundational assumption of much modern Western thought: that matter and spirit — materiality and religion — are fundamentally opposed. Rather than conceiving religion primarily as a system of ideas, doctrines, and beliefs, this framework accords equal significance to behaviours, practices, and objects. It reorients the study of religion towards the physical world, while simultaneously highlighting the capacity of tangible environments to mediate between humans and extraordinary powers.

This volume introduces the insights of Material Religion to the field of Byzantine Studies. It presents Material Religion as a new theoretical lens to Byzantinists, who have long explored religious life through behaviours, practices, and material culture, and who have long recognized their significance. A series of case studies — encompassing individual sites, urban spaces, landscape features, and categories of objects — illustrates the relevance and analytical power of the framework across the full span of byzantine material culture, from Late Antiquity to the Fall of Constantinople, including instances of cultural exchange within and beyond the Empire's heartland.

Material Religion in Byzantium and Beyond will appeal to a broad audience, from students of Byzantium to established scholars who may be unfamiliar with the Material Religion framework.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Material Religion in Byzantium and Beyond
• Part I Movement of People: Space and Sites Arranged for Performative Human Mobility
• Part II Movement of Objects: The Mobility of Artefacts within Their Worlds and to New Contexts
• Part III Objects and People: Reactions, Sensations and Bodies
• Part IV The Natural World
• Index