Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe

In the period between 1150 and 1550, an increasing number of Christians in western Europe made pilgrimage to places where material objects — among them paintings, statues, relics, pieces of wood, earth, stones, and Eucharistic wafers — allegedly erupted into life. These objects appeared animated — they wept, bled, and even walked. Such phenomena posed a challenge to Christians. On the one hand, they sought ever more frequent encounters with miraculous matter and, on the other hand, they tur...