Purifying the Body and the Soul: “minor” arts and the rite of Baptism: Some reflections and methodological problems
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| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Purification, in the frame of baptism, is seen as a passage, a crossing of “borders” – as the theme of this year’s IMC congress has it. It is a passage to a new status, both in front of the community and god. This passage is often mirrored, as was already highlighted many times, in the metaphorical terms of a ritualized death and rebirth. It is also important to keep in mind the many links entertained between these rituals and the notion of sacrifice: for the participants to rituals, in order to encounter the divine, they must present themselves as “living sacrifices”, purified and holy. Thus, we might ask ourselves how also this notion of sacrifice could be represented on mobile objects related to the one represented by baptism itself. This intervention will focus specifically on one type of object which could mirror, both through its iconography, but also material dimensions and shape, the notions described above: Late Antique ivory pyxides. |
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