From the veils of the first-century Jewish temple, to the Orthodox iconostasis, to the tramezzi of Renaissance Italy, screens of various shapes, sizes, and materials have been used to separate spaces and order communities in religious buildings. Drawn from papers presented at a recent Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Studies symposium, the contributors to this volume use a variety of perspectives to approach the history of religious screens and examine the thresholds that they mark. Focusing on the Middle Ages and Renaissance in the East and West, the volume includes discussions of screens in Egypt, Byzantium, the Gothic West and Italy. Some authors argue that screens, and particularly the one marking the threshold between the sanctuary/choir and nave, were conduits rather than barriers. Other authors emphasize the critical role of screens in dividing the laity and clergy, men and women, the pure and impure.
This volume provides new research on the history of religious screen and important insights into the many ways in which the sacred and profane are separated within ecclesiastical contexts.
Maximos the Confessor equated the parts of the church to the components of the human body: 'It's soul is the sanctuary; the sacred altar, the mind; and its body the nave.' Editor Sharon Gerstel universalizes this distinction, writing that 'the need to secure the division between the sacred and the profane is so profound that screens can be located in nearly every setting where the divine is manifested to man.' Drawn from papers presented at the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Studies symposium, Thresholds of the Sacred is a collection of academic explorations of the use of screens from the time of the Jewish Temple through the Renaissance. While the screens could be make of wood, stone, fabric or stucco, 'typically it is not the screen itself but its ritual penetration' that interests these authors (Gerstel). Casting a wide net, contributors draw from backgrounds in anthropology, ritual, liturgy, theology, history, art, and architecture in order to to investigate how specific communities-among them the Jewish temple, Byzantine Churches, Gothic Choirs of the later medieval West, and Italian churches of the Renaissance-acknowledged sacred thresholds. The book itself is oversized, beautifully constructed, and includes both monochrome and color plates. Thoroughly footnoted, it should be noted that the text itself appears in a smaller than usual type. Keep reading glasses at hand. 245 pp.
Maximos the Confessor equated the parts of the church to the components of the human body: 'It's soul is the sanctuary; the sacred altar, the mind; and its body the nave.' Editor Sharon Gerstel universalizes this distinction, writing that 'the need to secure the division between the sacred and the profane is so profound that screens can be located in nearly every setting where the divine is manifested to man.' Drawn from papers presented at the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Studies symposium, Thresholds of the Sacred is a collection of academic explorations of the use of screens from the time of the Jewish Temple through the Renaissance. While the screens could be make of wood, stone, fabric or stucco, 'typically it is not the screen itself but its ritual penetration' that interests these authors (Gerstel). Casting a wide net, contributors draw from backgrounds in anthropology, ritual, liturgy, theology, history, art, and architecture in order to to investigate how specific communities-among them the Jewish temple, Byzantine Churches, Gothic Choirs of the later medieval West, and Italian churches of the Renaissance-acknowledged sacred thresholds. The book itself is oversized, beautifully constructed, and includes both monochrome and color plates. Thoroughly footnoted, it should be noted that the text itself appears in a smaller than usual type. Keep reading glasses at hand. 245 pp.
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