
Sacred Ritual, Profane Space
The Roman House As Early Christian Meeting Place
Jenn Cianca(Author)
McGill-Queen's University Press
Will be published approx. on 23. May 2018
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-0-7735-5332-3 (ISBN)
Description
The first three centuries of Christianity are increasingly seen in modern scholarship as sites of complexity. Sacred Ritual, Profane Space examines the Christian meeting places of the time and overturns long-held notions about the earliest Christians as utopian rather than place-bound people. By mapping what is known from early Christian texts onto the archaeological data for Roman domestic spaces, Jenn Cianca provides a new lens for examining the relationship between early Christianity and sites of worship. She proposes that not only were Roman homes sacred sites in their own right but they were also considered sacred by the Christian communities that used them. In many cases, meeting space would have included the presence of the Roman domestic cult shrines. Despite the fact that the domestic cult was polytheistic, Cianca asserts that its practices likely continued in places used for worship by Christians. She also argues that continued practice of the domestic cult in Roman domestic spaces did not preclude Christians from using houses as churches or from understanding their rituals or their meeting places as sacred. Raising a host of questions about identity, ritual affiliation, and domestic practice, Sacred Ritual, Profane Space demonstrates how sacred space was constructed through ritual enactment in early Christian communities.
Reviews / Votes
"Fresh and exciting, Sacred Ritual, Profane Space comes to valuable and convincing conclusions about the material and literary evidence for Christian worship in domestic contexts. Overall, this is an admirable work." - Robin Jensen, University of Notre DameMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
7 figures
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
510 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7735-5332-3 (9780773553323)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
McGill-Queen's University Press
€34.49
Available for download
Person
Jenn Cianca is associate professor of classical studies and liberal arts at Bishop's University.