acred Space in Early Modern Europe<\/em><\/a>, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense attention to sacred space among anthropologists, scholars of comparative religion, historians, and sociologists, few studies of early modern Europe have paid attention to the subject. The contributors to this volume study the phenomenon of sacred space among Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed, in Germany, Geneva, Scotland, England, France.<\/p>\nBridget Heal looks at \u201csacred image and sacred space in Lutheran Germany.\u201d Luther himself thought church buildings were dispensable and \u201ccontemned the traditional consecration rituals that had set sacred space apart from profane (41). \u201cPapist\u201d rituals \u201caped\u201d Mosiac institutions that no longer had a place in the church. What consecrated a place was not sprinklings and anointings but the word of God rightly preached (42).<\/p>\n
In some places in Lutheran Germany, consecration rituals survived but \u201cpurified by the removal of superstitious, pre-reformation elements such as the use of aspergillum.\u201d When Lutheran city authorities condemned the presence of pigs, fish, and meat in the church, Heal says that their \u201cprimary concern was with disruption rather than defilement\u201d (44).<\/p>\n
Lutherans didn\u2019t indulge in iconoclasm as readily as the Reformed, and so their churches remained intact, retaining many of the accoutrements of medieval sacred space\u2014including tabernacles for the reserved Host, rood screens, and triptychs. Yet \u201cwhile furnishings remained there were important transformations in the ways in which ecclesiastical space was used\u201d (54). Pastors railed against the attempt to gain favor or protection through pilgrimages or donations. In Nuremberg, \u201caltarpieces were probably still opened and closed in a cycle that reflected the liturgical seasons and the purified calendar of the saints\u2019 feast days. But the practices that had, during the pre-Reformation period, served to honor certain images and indicate their significance as loci of sacred power were discontinued: altarpieces and statues were no longer illuminated by numerous lamps and candles; statues were no longer adorned\u201d (55). Corpus Christi processions stopped.<\/p>\n
All that can leave the impression that the Reformation, especially in the Reformed wing, simply \u201cdesacralized\u201d the world, and completely eliminated any conception of sacred space. Christian Grosse\u2019s chapter on \u201cliturgical sacrality\u201d in Geneva shows that this is too simple a conclusion. He describes the liturgical conversion not as desacralization but as an effort to \u201crearrange the formal \u2018presence of the sacred in the world\u2019\u201d (61). <\/p>\n
He observes in a footnote that no one has fully studied how the language of holiness, sanctity, purity, and pollution were used by Reformed writers (61, fn 3) but he ventures a summary of Calvin\u2019s understanding. He argues that \u201choliness is considered more in relation to time than to place.\u201d Grosse links this to the plain aesthetic of Calvinist church buildings: \u201cthe whitewashed Genevan temples clearly reflect a Calvinist conception of communication with the holy; instead of being mediatised [sic<\/em>] by material reality, it is inscribed in time, like a process of elevation and sanctification\u201d (75). Jesus is no longer present in this world, but the \u201cvirtue\u201d of Christ is diffused, which \u201canimates a process of sanctification\u201d (63). The Christian himself is holy, and the gathered church is holy. \u201cThe sacred is present in the world\u201d through sanctified human beings (63). <\/p>\nCalvin strictly reserved the language of holiness to people. Church buildings are not \u201creal dwelling places of God\u201d and are not places of \u201csecret holiness.\u201d Geneva had its \u201ctemples\u201d but they were functional, not sanctified spaces (64). Yet, because buildings are used for the gathering of saints, other Reformed statements and writers reasoned, they could be considered holy spaces in an extended sense. The Helvetic Confession claimed that \u201cplaces dedicated to God and to his worship are not profane, but holy because God\u2019s word and the use of holy things to which they are devoted\u201d (65). This is still a \u201cutility\u201d based understanding of church buildings, but some Reformed theologians are willing to use the language of sanctity and consecrate to describe places \u201cdedicated, or rather assigned, to some holy or sacred purpose\u201d (quote from Agostino Mainardo, 65). Strictly, the action of the holy people is holy; but places where that action commonly takes place are holy in an extended sense.<\/p>\n
Grosse notes one unsettling detail about Geneva\u2019s temples. Reformed churches often did away with rood screens, and abolished the barriers between nave and choir that spatialized the hierarchical ordering of the church. All the saints are in the same liturgical space. But in the 1540s, Saint-Pierre in Geneva introduced a new seating arrangement, with civil leadings taking \u201cthe stalls that rose in tiers above the floor of the former choir\u201d and the ministers and elders seated behind the pulpit. Seats for people under discipline were placed near the pulpit. The arrangement was \u201ca response to the supervisory requirements\u201d of Geneva, and \u201cenabled the congregation to be placed under the surveillance of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, while conferring on the latter a certain prestige.\u201d Grosse sees the arrangement as fulfilling two ideals, on the one hand depicting a \u201ctemporal society divided into social categories\u201d and on the other a \u201cspiritual society, united in a relation of equality with the divine\u201d (78\u20139). <\/p>\n
I wonder if Genevans got the message. Or whether they came to view the hierarchy of Geneva\u2019s polity to be as sacred and inviolable as the old cleric-lay distinction had been. New magistrate is but old priest writ large?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense attention to sacred space among anthropologists, scholars of comparative religion, historians, and sociologists, few studies of early modern Europe have paid attention to the subject. The contributors to this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1142,631,1817],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reformation","category-sacred","category-sacred-space"],"yoast_head":"\n
Protestant Sacred Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protestant Sacred Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/\",\"name\":\"Protestant Sacred Space\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Protestant Sacred Space\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Protestant Sacred Space","description":"Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Protestant Sacred Space","og_description":"Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/","name":"Protestant Sacred Space","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2017\/04\/protestant-sacred-space\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Protestant Sacred Space"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}