About the Book
The long nineteenth century (c.1780-c.1920) in Western Europe saw an unprecedented rise in the production and possession of material goods. The material culture diversified and led to a rich variety of expressions. Dovetailing with a process of confessionalisation that manifested itself quite simultaneously, material religion witnessed its heyday in this period; from church buildings to small devotional objects.
The present volume analyses how various types of reform (state, societal, and ecclesiastical) that were part of the process of modernisation affected the material devotional culture within Protestantism, Anglicanism, and Roman Catholicism. Although the contributions in this book start from a comparative European perspective, the case studies mostly focus on individual countries in North-West Europe, namely Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
The concept of 'material religion' is approached in a very inclusive way. The volume discusses, amongst others, parish infrastructures and religious buildings that are part of land and cityscapes, but also looks into interior design and decorations of chapels, churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and educational, charitable, and health institutions. It comprises the fine arts of religious painting and sculpture, the applied arts, and iconographic designs. As far as private material culture is concerned, this volume examines and presents objects related to private devotion at home, including a great variety of popular devotional and everyday life objects, such as booklets, cards, photographs, and posters.
Contributors: Carsten Bach-Nielsen (Aarhus University), Timothy Brittain-Catlin (University of Cambridge), Arne Bugge Amundsen (University of Oslo), Thomas Coomans (KU Leuven), Wolfgang Cortjaens (Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin), Jan De Maeyer (KU Leuven), Jens Christian Eldal (Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Oslo), Anders Gustavsson (University of Oslo), Dagmar Hanel (Institut fur Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte, Bonn), Mary Heimann (Cardiff University), Antoine Jacobs (independent historian), Patricia Lysaght (University College Dublin), Peter Jan Margry (University of Amsterdam / Meertens Institute (KNAW)), Caroline McGee (Trinity College Dublin), Roderick O'Donnell (independent architecture historian), Wies van Leeuwen (architecture historian), Fred van Lieburg (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Tine Van Osselaer (Ruusbroec Institute / University of Antwerp), William Whyte (University of Oxford)
Table of Contents:
Comparing Perspectives in Material Change: an Introduction Jan De Maeyer & Peter Jan Margry
1 THE ROLE OF ‘PRESSURE GROUPS’
Introduction Jan De Maeyer 1.1 Shaping Material Reform: ‘Pressure Groups’ in Great Britain and Ireland William Whyte 1.2A Varied and Remarkably Landscape of Pressure Groups: a Societal Debate as a Result in Belgium Jan De Maeyer 1.3 Pressure Groups and Networks in the Multi-Denominational Netherlands Antoine Jacobs 1.4 The Institutionalisation of Christian Art and Architecture in Germany: Protagonists and ‘Pressure Groups’ Wolfgang Cortjaens 1.5 Church Building Societies in Scandinavia Carsten Bach-Nielsen
2. SPACE AND THE FABRIC OF BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTIONS
Introduction Jan De Maeyer 2.1 Land Control and Development in the Politics of the Churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland Timothy Brittain-Catlin & Roderick O’Donnell 2.2 Reconquering a Lost Visibility: Catholic Revival in Early Industrial Belgium Thomas Coomans 2.3 Spatial Concepts in Religious Architecture and the Politics of Building in the German Countries Wolfgang Cortjaens 2.4 Reforming Religious Material Landscapes in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavia Arne Bugge Amundsen
3. BUILDING AND FURNISHING OF RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE
Introduction Timothy Brittain-Catlin 3.1 The Pugin Revolution and its Aftermath: the United Kingdom and Ireland Timothy Brittain-Catlin & Roderick O’Donnell 3.2 Gothic Revival: Style, Construction and Ideology in Nineteenth-Century Belgium Thomas Coomans 3.3 To Induce a Beneficial Impression in Their Souls: Church Architecture and Interior Décor in the Netherlands Wies van Leeuwen 3.4 The Dialectics of Religious Architecture and Liturgy in the German Countries Wolfgang Cortjaens 3.5 The Lutheran State Churches of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and Emerging Minorities Jens Christian Eldal
4. MATERIAL REFORM IN EVERYDAY RELIGION
Introduction Peter Jan Margry 4.1 Victorian Piety and the Revival of Material Religion in Britain Mary Heimann 4.2 Reform and Change in Material Expressions of Catholic Devotion in Ireland Patricia Lysaght 4.3 The Material Expression of Everyday Religion in Belgium Tine Van Osselaer 4.4 Societal Change and the Shifts in the Material Expression of Devotional Catholicism in the Netherlands Peter Jan Margry 4.5 God’s Word Materialised: the Domestication of the Bible in Dutch Protestantism Fred van Lieburg 4.6 Pious Things: Popular Religiosity of the Nineteenth Century from the Perspective of Material Culture in Germany Dagmar Hänel 4.7 The Impact of Religious Reform on the Material Culture of Popular Piety in Scandinavia Anders Gustavsson
Colour Illustrations Authors Index Colophon
About the Author :
Jan De Maeyer is emeritus professor of church history at KU Leuven and honorary director of KADOC KU Leuven.
Peter Jan Margry is professor of European ethnology at the University of Amsterdam and senior fellow at the Meertens Institute, a research centre of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam.
Review :
Jan De Maeyer and Peter Margry have edited a weighty, beautifully produced tome that is the culmination of a research project that began in 2008 and issued in five volumes on religion in northwestern Europe in the long nineteenth century. - David Morgan, SZRKG/RSHRC/RSSRC, 117 (2023), 401–478, DOI: 10.24894/2673-3641.00155
This is a valuable book that provides a detailed, comparative map of Christian material religion for north-west Europe, and that will be extremely useful to scholars working on a wide range of topics. - Niamh NicGhabhann, Material Religion, 2024, 20:5, https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2024.2425202
