Medieval Art and Liturgy (recent approaches)

Abstract

In the past decade, research on the relationship between art and liturgy in the Middle Ages has taken a historical approach, after some seminal publications in the past. This approach is basic to any serious study of the subject, but most researchers go beyond that, often with a new awareness of the artistic material itself and a full reintegration of theology, combining it with a social-historical understanding of the liturgy. Research trends in this area have been largely “globalized” as a result of new information technologies given today by many databases on images, texts, and incipits. Despite this, one should not assume that a standardization of thought exists. In some countries, specific historiographical trends are still strong. The definition of medieval liturgy has undergone some changes in recent years as well. It went from a historical-anthropological conception, influenced by a theoretical approach in different fields of humanities, to a conception that has reintegrated theology into the heart of the subject without rejecting its historical and anthropological aspects. This has mainly been possible thanks to a perfected knowledge of the sources of the liturgy and its theology. A renewed approach to certain types of sources of medieval liturgy, such as liturgical commentaries—that is to say, exegesis on the liturgy—has also facilitated the inclusion of subjects previously absent, such as dance performance in church ritual. In the field of Christian theology, recent publications have also helped in understanding the liturgy in a historical perspective and have gradually left behind a doctrinal and dogmatic approach to medieval theology in favor of a return to the realm of historical “reality.” Recent publications dealing with the practice of the liturgy and its theological interpretation focus, above all, on the human experience of the divine, something that allows for a kind of interaction between texts and real life. In this way, medieval liturgy acts as a kind of theological exegesis, encouraging humankind to experience biblical events anew. This leads to an “existential reading” of scripture and an involvement on a personal level that implies a strong sense of spirituality. One of the major effects of this conception of liturgy informed by an experience-based theology has been reconsideration of the material dimension of ritual as activated by the human sensory experience during the execution of the liturgical ceremony. This innovative methodological and epistemological understanding of the sensory experience of liturgy and theology through art has produced the richest research. The sensory experience of the liturgy must be seen in light of a similar understanding of beauty and aesthetics during Antiquity. Likewise, this new approach, which sees art and liturgy as based on the experience of artistic materiality (and even archaeology), is echoed in the research of specialists from periods other than the Middle Ages.