Introduction: Relics and Remains

Walsham, Alexandra

doi:10.1093/pastj/gtq026

Cited by 46 publications

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“…The stories of the early Christian martyrs (first to fifth centuries AD) not only form a "critical building block of Christian culture" (Castelli 2004, 4) but the physical remains of these martyrs, and many other saints, rulers, and religious leaders over the last several centuries, have become an integral part of religious veneration, and the Church's architecture, expansion, and wealth (Osborne 1999;Crook 2000;Walsham 2010). The lives and deeds of these early martyrs may have been varied but they were united in sainthood by their violent deaths, subsequent exhumations, and the "translation" of their bodies into relics (see Marinelli 1993;Castelli 2004).…”

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After their own "triumphant" deaths, always by lengthy torture and execution, their bodies became the potent substance of holy relics that established the foundations for Catholic churches across Europe and the Americas (Cruz 1977;Castelli 2004;Delaney 2005). These saintly relics also provided the necessary capital for rapid ecclesiastical expansion (Goodson 2010;Walsham 2010).…”

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of these items are documented as originating from Rome and Constantinople, two very powerful seats of Christianity vying for autonomy and sovereignty (Geary 1986;Walsham 2010). Itinerant traders, travelling clergy, and knights engaged in the market for typical (and easily preserved) items such as bones, dried appendages, and hair.…”

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Relics were wrapped in silk, encrusted with jewels, and contained in gold casings; small ones could be placed in larger reliquaries, and old coverings could be replaced with new ones "at will" (Smith 2010, 73). They became more opulent and ornate depending on the religious sponsor or royal affiliate, and provided the foundation that was central to dynasty building (Smith 2010;Walsham 2010) (Figures 3 and 4).…”

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They became the focus for crowds of supporters wherever they were placed and by this means, increased the wealth, prestige, and political power of those who controlled their use (see Crook 2000;Spaak 2009;Smith 2010). Their portability, their sacred contagiousness, their economic value, and their legitimacy were all mutually reinforcing (Walsham 2010). Spaak (2009) discusses the powerful pull of the dead when describing the changes around the burial place of Saint Denis, Saint Rusticus, and Saint Eleutherius.…”

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Institutional Bodies: Spatial Agency and the Dead

Nafte¹

2015

History and Anthropology

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In this paper, I argue that the Catholic Church and Western medicine assumed historically significant roles in the use and circulation of human remains and, in so doing, established distinct traditions of dissection, preservation, and display. Furthermore, both institutions still maintain an essential role in making human remains ever more popular and culturally acceptable. The Church and Western medicine uphold various means of interaction that effectively keep the dead undisposed for specific purposes: as forms of cultural capital, objects of veneration, and fetishized, or aestheticized diversion. As such, the institutionalized dead have come to inhabit very particular spaces where they are made to perform a variety of duties for the living.Two seemingly opposed institutions in Western society have each contributed to the use of human remains as material culture. These institutions are the Roman Catholic Church, with its rich tradition of making and displaying relics, and the field of medicine in its creation and promotion of anatomical specimens. Both establishments, sanctioned by and representing powerful forms of authority, have been processing and displaying the dead human body over as many centuries as they have been active. But rather than representing two separate and distinct philosophies with respect to the human body, the Catholic Church and Western medicine have each promoted and established a very similar type of commodification and commercial aesthetic of the cadaver. Both have also created forms of spatial agency around the dismemberment Correspondence to: Myriam Nafte, Anthropology, McMaster University,

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Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relics and Resurrection: God And His Body Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Institutional Bodies: Spatial Agency and the Dead

Nafte¹

2015

History and Anthropology

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Relics in the Sikh Tradition

Murphy¹

2020

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Materiality

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Relics

Hooper

2021

The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology

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Relics, usually associated with Christian practice, have been an important but neglected feature of many religious traditions, including Buddhism and Islam. Anthropology has contributed comparative perspectives to the cultural rather than theological analysis of relics both as body parts and as contact relics—items associated with the “special dead.” The power of images in many cultures (of gods, ancestors, kings, queens, saints, and heroes) can also be attributed to their role as “image relics” of special personages. Prioritizing a focus on religious practice rather than doctrine, while avoiding the problematic category “secular,” shows that relic‐related behavior has been fundamental to religion—human engagement with higher powers—across cultures and over many millennia. High valuation of relics continues in “celebrity culture,” where memorabilia associated with modern special personages—contact relics of musicians, artists, and film stars—is treasured and fetches high prices on the international market.

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Introduction: Relics and Remains

Cited by 46 publications

References 0 publications

Institutional Bodies: Spatial Agency and the Dead

Institutional Bodies: Spatial Agency and the Dead

Relics in the Sikh Tradition

Relics

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