S. G. Platten, ed., (2017) Holy ground: Cathedrals in the twenty-first century. Durham: Sacristy Press. Modern Believing, 59(2), 155-156.[Book review] (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Antiquaries Journal, 2001
The series in which these two volumes appear is concerned with the liturgical traditions of Judaism and Christianity, as sister (or mother and daughter) religions. Within the two religions, Passover and Easter constitute the most important festivals of the year, and are inextricably linked. The scope which this provides accounts for two volumes-the first concerned with origins and history, and the second with symbolic structuring. In the first volume, the two series editors both provide introductions. Paul Bradshaw stresses the importance of distinguishing between the unitive, rememorative and representational aspects of the development of Holy Week. Lawrence Hoffman provides an introduction which is concerned with Passover and the place of the Haggadah. The early literature has plenty on meals, but little about public prayer. It has been assumed that the Seder was a symposium meal for which the Haggadah as a liturgical script was developed. In fact, Hoffman notes, the Haggadah was oral in origin, and originally came after the meal as a post-prandial discussion. In the course of time it came to be a canonised text placed before the meal. The cultural setting of Passover (and for that matter, the Lord's Supper) is set by Blake Leyerle, with an essay on the meal customs of the Greco-Roman world, since meals had encoded social messages about different degrees of hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, boundaries and transactions across boundaries. The evidence reveals (as might be expected) a variety of customs between east and west, public and private, and social class. Joseph Tabory investigates the history of the Passover Seder from the Mishnah to the medieval period. It reveals a change from a sacrificial meal, in which the food was the main event of the evening, into a meal with discussion of the symbolism of the meal, to the food being purely symbolic and eaten in symbolic quantities. Paul Bradshaw turns to the origin of Easter, suggesting that the Quartodeciman custom, far from being an aberration, is earlier than the Sunday celebration of the feast. Given his own warnings elsewhere against positing a single origin, the safer ground might be to posit dual origins in different geographical locations from very early days. This essay is an instructive overview, noting the development of a Pascha to Paschein, ' Hitler, Adolf, and Catholic Church ' ; ' Holocaust and the papacy ' ; ' Nazi Germany and the Vatican ' ; ' Nazi racialism and the Vatican ' ; and ' World War II and the papacy '. Not surprisingly, Italy is particularly well served, but the material is scattered, and there is no heading on Italy (or France or Portugal for that matter) either in the main work or in the index. Without guidance, I wonder if readers will find such articles as those on the ' Miguelite War and papacy ', ' Ralliement ', or ' Vichy France and the Vatican ', or look for information about the Law of Guarantees under ' Papal guarantees, the Law of, '. Apart from entries on every pope, antipope and council regarded by Roman Catholics as oecumenical, the criteria for the selection of articles is unclear. There is nearly two pages on the ' Sword and Hat, Blessed ', but nothing on the papal tiara, for instance, and among religious orders only the Congregation of the Mission, the Franciscans, and the Society of Jesus have articles, the last with another entry on its abolition in . Something has gone wrong under Anastasius ; it was Clement (not Clement ) who canonised Rose of Lima ; the Noble and Palatine Guards (described in the present tense under ' Vatican City ') were disbanded in ; and it seems more likely that Martin 's life was spared
Trinity Inspires: Contemplating the History and Temple of a Young Cathedral
Holy Trinity Church was made Cathedral of the Diocese of Eastern Kowloon in the Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican-Episcopal) on Trinity Sunday 2010. It carries a distinctive history as one of two local churches to realize the vision of indigenization in context. This paper presented at the Seminar organized by the Hong Kong Province to celebrate the Centenary of the Anglican Church in China which was established in 1912. The notion and implementation of the Incarnation of Christ is selected and elaborated with support from the history and design of the Trinity Temple under the leadership of Bishop R.O. Hall. The British philosopher theologian Patrick Sherry from the University of Lancaster was quoted as a philosophical-theological ground of the Trinity Story in the three fold effort: Locating, Relating and Validating. In this paper Incarnation is comprehended as "the determination and course of action to refuse being locked in time and space."
Contradictions of Saint Paul’s Cathedral
The Academic Research Community publication
Saint Paul’s Cathedral is a contradiction. Beautiful and majestic, it combines an almost Catholic shape with a Protestant soul. It is one of the most powerful symbols of England, and a reason for pride for any Londoner. This paper wants to explore the architectural variations of Saint Paul’s, especially before and after the Great Fire in 1666, to unveil the peculiar relationship between the cathedral and the people of London. Although St Paul’s has been a constant for the Londoners, its role in their lives has not always been the same. The progressive change in people’s attitude towards the cathedral went at the same pace as the alteration of the architecture of the building, which mirrored the social, political, and religious changes of the country. From being a central point of commerce and medieval social life during its Norman period and its Gothic style, the cathedral evolved into the highest symbol of religion and power and reached its peak with the design provided by Wren. Lo...
Religion
Much of this thematic issue emerges from work carried out for an AHRC-funded project, Pilgrimage and England's Cathedrals, Past and Present Cathedrals (PEC). In this introduction, we explore the possibilities of developing a new sub-field oriented around exploring the shaping of belief and praxis in and by cathedrals. After noting the renewed popularity of these institutions in England, we provide a brief history of cathedrals within and beyond Europe, highlighting both particular periods of expansion and pilgrimage practices relating to them. We emphasize the significance of cathedrals in juxtaposing 'sacred space' with 'common ground.' This approach is complemented by a focus on how cathedrals both embody and encourage material and liturgical forms of 'replication'-a theme that provides a useful comparative approach for historians and ethnographers alike. Potential for future research is also briefly discussed.
From the liminal to the lateral: urban religion in English cathedrals
Tourism Geographies, 2018
Using data derived from a qualitative and quantitative study of four English cathedrals (Canterbury, Durham, Westminster, and York), I argue that these buildings combine high cultural capital with considerable liturgical flexibility, and that the latter has helped cathedrals become highly popular parts of the church and heritage landscape. In examining the ritual forms made available to visitors, including regular services, informal acts of piety such as the lighting of candles, and varieties of pilgrimage, I argue the need for a more nuanced theoretical vocabulary than is currently in play in order to describe the ways in which informants engage with liturgy. Drawing on both ritual theory and urban sociology, I juxtapose a more conventional depiction of ritual as involving entry into set-apart and liminal frames of action with the observation that many visitors engage in more 'lateral' forms of participation, where sacred and secular, official and non-official, blend in complex ways. Such 'laterality' emerges not only from contemporary responses to ritual engagement, but also out of characteristic ways in which urban publics engage with variegated city space. My broader argument is that the notion of ritual 'laterality' is a highly productive means of characterizing encounters between contemporary visitors and heritage sites of religious significance. Use of this category avoids a clear separation or hierarchy of value between sacred and profane realms of action, or between religious believers and tourists. An investigation of lateral interactions between visitors and such sites also assumes that informal, ambiguously articulated, and less public behaviors may be as sociologically significant as formal and easily visible ones. I conclude that ritual behavior in cathedrals points to wider trends in the encounters between diverse urban publics and ostensibly sacred spaces.
The Cathedrals of England: Environmental Performance, Conservation and Exhibitions
Studies in Conservation, 2018
English medieval cathedrals are a group of buildings of exceptional significance and they contain collections of equal importance. Both the historic building fabric and the artefacts are vulnerable to environmental deterioration. However, unlike buildings owned by heritage organisations, the primary purpose of cathedrals is to further the Christian mission, and the conservation of the building and collections is required to be conducted within these constraints. Increasing visitor numbers and the installation of sophisticated exhibitions makes the task of conservation all the more demanding. Next to mechanical damage, environmental factors are the greatest source of deterioration to sensitive fabric and collections. However, until recently, there has been little systematic study of English cathedral environments and the effects of different uses and control measures. Detailed studies undertaken on 20 cathedrals in the past two decades have provided an insight into their environmental performance and how they differ as a group from many other historic buildings, as well as the passive conservation measures that can be implemented within their primary function.
Shaky Foundations: Some London Churches and their Foundation Legends
A large poster outside Southwark Cathedral boldly advertises that the cathedral has been ‘Here since 606’; St Pancras Old Church claims to have been a ‘Site of prayer and meditation since 314 AD’. There is of course no historical evidence to support such unfeasibly early (and unfeasibly specific) dates. This presentation will consider the ‘foundation legends’ still attached to a number of London churches. Some have their origins in medieval times, others are more recent. Specific dates seem often to be the inventions of local historians or enthusiastic churchmen in the 19th or even the 20th century. In spite of their obvious unreliability these legends remain popular with parishioners, tourist guides and the church authorities, and are widely quoted – with or without the caveat ‘According to legend…’.