Performing the Sacred: Christian Representation and the Arts / / edited by Carla M. Bino and Corinna Ricasoli.

• Superior document: Studies in Religion and the Arts ; 20
• TeilnehmendeR: Bino, Carla M.,; Ricasoli, Corinna,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2022]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Religion and the Arts ; 20.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (254 pages)

What does 'performance' mean in Christian culture? How is it connected to rituals, dramatic and visual arts, and the written word? This book addresses the issue from the Middle Ages to the Modern era and showcases examples of how Christians have represented their biblical narrative.

What does 'performance' mean in Christian culture? How is it connected to rituals, dramatic and visual arts, and the written word? Performing the Sacred: Christian Representation and the Arts explores both the meaning of re-presentation and the role of performance within the Christian tradition between arts and drama. The essays in this book demonstrate that the idea of performance was central to Christian theology and that—from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern era—it became a device through which people saw, prayed, preached, wrote, imagined, officiated rites, celebrated cults, and practiced devotions. Seen that performance is a habitus within Christianity, performing the sacred does not just mean representing it, but rather enacting it in a tangible, visible and involved way.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Figures and Tables -- Figures -- Tables -- Notes on Contributors -- Introduction -- 1 The Drama of Christian Images: Art, Liturgy, Sacred Theatre -- 1 Art, a Sign of Salvation -- 2 Jesus and Art -- 3 The Sacraments as Images -- 4 Rite as Image -- 5 Liturgy as Theatre -- 6 Awaiting Transformation -- 2 A 'Dramatic Turn': The Revolution of Christian Representation -- 1 The Show: 'Seeing from Afar' -- 2 The Dramatic Turn: Seeing Up Close -- 3 Conclusion: The Spectacula Christianorum between Memory and Mimesis -- 3 No Drama Please, We're Greek: Sacred Plays from a Greek Orthodox Perspective -- 1 Hellenistic Jews and Antitheatrical Culture -- 2 Enter the Archbishop -- 3 The Service of the Furnace -- 4 Conclusion -- 4 Enacting Sacred Narrative: Biblical, Liturgical, and Sacramental Practices in the Latin West -- 1 The Notions of 'Liturgical Drama' and 'Sacrament' -- 2 The Fleury Raising of Lazarus -- 5 Mary in the Scriptures as Container and Way: Henry Adams and the Virgin of Chartres -- 6 The Power of Images of Passion: Animated Sculptures of the Crucified Christ -- 7 Women as Performers of the Bible: Female Preaching in Premodern Europe -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Women and Preaching in Premodern Europe -- 3 Tommasina Fieschi (ca. 1448-1534) Preaching in Private -- 4 Juana de la Cruz (1481-1534) -- 5 María de Santo Domingo (1486-ca. 1524) -- 6 Stefana Quinzani (1457-1530) -- 7 Conclusion -- 8 Dramatic Action and the Participatory Spectator at the Sacro Monte di Varallo: Frozen Theatre -- 1 The Sacro Monte as Immersive Installation -- 2 Activation -- 3 Self-Referential Politics of Space -- 4 De-centering -- 5 Conclusion -- 9 The Paradox of the Saint Actress: Church and Commedia Dell'Arte during the Counter-Reformation -- 1 Church, Theatre, and Performance: A Complex Relationship -- 2 The Fascination of the Stage.

3 Comedians' Defensive Strategies -- 4 'Comic Knowledge': Culture in Action -- 5 Theatrical Touring and Spiritual Pilgrimage -- 6 Mary Magdalene's Conversion as the Redemption of the Actress -- 10 Performing Glory: The Misteri or Festa d'Elx on Contemporary Stages -- 1 Like a Wormhole -- 2 The Medieval Stage in Action -- 3 An Apocryphal Narrative -- 4 The Festa d'Elx: The Space and Its Structure -- 5 Effectus mirabilis: The Aerial Movement of the Misteri -- 6 Gestures and Stage Props -- 11 Performing the Bible: Christian Drama and the Arts -- 1 The Bible and Its Uses in Judaism and Christianity -- 2 What Does "Performing the Bible" Actually Mean? -- 2.1 Interpreting and Representing the Bible in Liturgy, Images, and Drama -- 2.2 Ambivalence and Fiction: The Point of View of the Spectators -- Index.