Agents of faith: votive objects in time and place

Abstract

"Votive objects or ex-votos are a broad category of material artifacts produced with the intention of being offered as acts of faith. Common across historical periods, religions, and cultures, they are presented as tokens of gratitude for prayers answered, as well as the physical manifestation of hopes and anxieties. Agents of Faith explores votive offerings in the context of material culture, art history, and religious studies to better understand their history and present-day importance. By looking at what humans have chosen to offer in their votive transactions, this volume uncovers their most intimate moments in life and questions the nature, role, and function of one of the most fundamental aspects of the relationship between people and things--the imbuing of objects with sentiment. Encompassing exquisite works of art as well as votives of humble origin and material, with objects dating from 2000 B.C. to the twenty-first century, the beautiful illustrations and wide-ranging text expose the global reach of votive practices and the profoundly personal nature behind their creation"--

Contents

Of votiive things / Ittai Weinryb -- Agents of Faith -- Place, shrine, miracle / Jaś Elsner -- Terrestrial gateways to the Divine / Alexandra Beuscher and Darienne Turner -- Votive materials : bodies and beyond / Ittai Weinryb -- Edible offerings : food in votive culture / Michael H. Dewberry and Alexander Ekserdijan -- Public and private dimensions of the votive offering / Christopher S. Wood -- Memory and narrative : materializing past and future in the present / Frederika Jacobs -- Votive giving today / David Morgan -- Votive giving at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial / Anne Hilker and Alyssa Velazquez -- Votive objects in time and place -- Clever devices and cognitive artifacts / Verity Platt -- Lob and danck : on the social meaning of votives in German pilgrimage culture / Mitchell B. Merback -- Votive wax : the Hipp Workshop in Pfaffenhofen / Nina Gockerell -- In search of blessings : ex-votos in medieval greater South Asia / John Guy -- Votive giving in Islamic societies / Sheila Blair -- Action in form : African art as voiced engagements / Suzanne Preston Blier -- Votive giving in the New World / Diana Fane and Fatima Bercht -- The contemporary ex-voto : reenchanting the art world? / Mechtild Widrich.