Bøger af Maria Craciun

This collected volume is dedicated to the role of prayer books in lay piety in medieval and early modern contexts. Instead of focusing on individual examples, it places them within the broader genre of devotional literature and considers them in connection with prevailing cultural, religious and artistic developments, taking into account the Reformation, the printing press and growing interest in lay piety, in the context of increasing individualism, developing literacy, privatization and/or personalization of religion. Contextualising devotional literature, the volume refines understandings of religious practice fostered by traditional Catholicism and early modern Protestantism and its relationship with the written word, locating the use of books within a devotional 'diet' that included oral recitation of prayers as well as contemplation of images. Stressing continuities, often against the grain of existing literature, this volume highlights differences between regional cultures of prayer in contrast to norms set by the universal Church and emphasizes the tension between public/communal and private/individual devotion.

Exploring the complex relationship between western monasticism and lay society in east central Europe across a broad chronological timeframe, this title provides a re-examination of the level and nature of interaction between members of religious orders and the communities around them.

This text further develops some of the ideas discussed at a conference at the University of Cluj in 1999. The conference and the book share a focus on the significance of printed religious texts in east-central Europe during the early modern period.