Ringleaders of redemption : the religious authorization of western medieval dance
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In traditional thought and theology, Christianity tends to oppose dance. Conventional scholarship traces this controversy back to the Middle Ages. Throughout the medieval era, the Latin Church denounced and prohibited dancing in religious and secular realms, often aligning it with demonic intervention, lust, pride, and sacrilege. Historical sources, however, suggest that medieval dance was a complex and ambivalent phenomenon. During the High and Late Middle Ages, western theologians, liturgists, and mystics not only tolerated dance; they transformed it into a dynamic component of religious thought and practice. This dissertation investigates how dance became a legitimate form of devotion in Christian culture (c. 1200-1450). Sacred dance functioned to gloss scripture, frame spiritual experience, and imagine the afterlife. Invoking numerous manuscript, primary, and visual sources (biblical commentaries, sermons, saints' lives, ecclesiastical statutes, mystical treatises, vernacular literature, and iconography), this project highlights how medieval dance helped shape religious identity, social stratification, and human intention. Moreover, this study shows the political dimension of dance, which worked in the service of Christendom, conversion, and social cohesion. In sum, this dissertation reveals a long tradition of sacred dance in Christianity, one that the professionalization and secularization of Renaissance dance obscured, and one that the Reformation silenced and suppressed.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Dickason, Kathryn Emily |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Religious Studies. |
| Primary advisor | Gelber, Hester Goodenough, 1943- |
| Thesis advisor | Gelber, Hester Goodenough, 1943- |
| Thesis advisor | Bashir, Shahzad, 1968- |
| Thesis advisor | Griffiths, Fiona J |
| Advisor | Bashir, Shahzad, 1968- |
| Advisor | Griffiths, Fiona J |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Kathryn Emily Dickason. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Religious Studies. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Kathryn Emily Dickason
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