Networks of Religious Exchange in Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Univ. of Florida
Organizer Name
Matthew Koval
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Florida
Presider Name
Matthew Koval
Paper Title 1
The Crossroads of Byzantium: Syncretism in Byzantine Literature (Eleventh-Thirteenth Century)
Presenter 1 Name
Nicolò Sassi
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Indiana Univ.-Bloomington
Paper Title 2
Italian Saints in the Services of Clement of Ohrid: A "Western" Legacy in the Process of Bulgarian Conversion
Presenter 2 Name
Ethan Williamson
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. of Florida
Start Date
11-5-2018 10:00 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1340
Description
During the Middle Ages, Central and Eastern European societies were transformed by the spread of ideas and people from western Europe and Byzantium. Networks related to the church and Christianity, through monasteries, parishes, preaching, cults of saints, education, literacy, and patterns of life were essential to these changes. What is important to note, however, is that every region receiving Christianity mixed elements from Western (and at times Eastern) traditions with its own local cultural patterns, producing a wide regional variety. All of this is well-known, and the purpose of this panel is to explore this process from a particular framework, specifically trying to analyze this problem through the concept of networks. By employing this perspective, we can try to trace the concrete and material contact between people, objects, and landscapes that produced the transformations appearing through religion and spirituality. One advantage of this approach is that it avoids an uncritical assumption of a nebulous seepage of ideas “in the air” through time and space, and it keeps a focus on the real interactions between people and their environment that shaped the past. Another advantage of this approach is that it is by its very nature inter-disciplinary, begging the combination of history, art history, archaeology, anthropology, and material culture studies. Finally, a focus on networks allows discussion of cultural change without the assumption of a certain culture or individual being agent and another passive recipient, and avoids the pitfalls of seeing Central and Eastern Europe as simply a shadow of another culture.
Matthew Koval
Networks of Religious Exchange in Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages
Schneider 1340
During the Middle Ages, Central and Eastern European societies were transformed by the spread of ideas and people from western Europe and Byzantium. Networks related to the church and Christianity, through monasteries, parishes, preaching, cults of saints, education, literacy, and patterns of life were essential to these changes. What is important to note, however, is that every region receiving Christianity mixed elements from Western (and at times Eastern) traditions with its own local cultural patterns, producing a wide regional variety. All of this is well-known, and the purpose of this panel is to explore this process from a particular framework, specifically trying to analyze this problem through the concept of networks. By employing this perspective, we can try to trace the concrete and material contact between people, objects, and landscapes that produced the transformations appearing through religion and spirituality. One advantage of this approach is that it avoids an uncritical assumption of a nebulous seepage of ideas “in the air” through time and space, and it keeps a focus on the real interactions between people and their environment that shaped the past. Another advantage of this approach is that it is by its very nature inter-disciplinary, begging the combination of history, art history, archaeology, anthropology, and material culture studies. Finally, a focus on networks allows discussion of cultural change without the assumption of a certain culture or individual being agent and another passive recipient, and avoids the pitfalls of seeing Central and Eastern Europe as simply a shadow of another culture.
Matthew Koval