'Holy, Holier, Holiest': The Sacred Topography of the Early Medieval Irish Church

by David Jenkins

Overview

This book explores the morphology of early medieval Irish religious settlement. It seeks to shift the focus of academic interest away from simply the materiality of settlement towards a greater concern for its possible theological significance. The critical literature is reviewed and the archaeological and literary evidence revisited in search of evidence for a consistent early medieval Irish schema for the layout of religious settlement. This study suggests that the enclosure and zoning of religious space was primarily inspired by depictions of the Jerusalem Temple through the medium of a universally received scriptural 'canon of planning'. The distinctive early Irish religious landscape is a result of the convergence of this Christian exemplar of ordered holy space with vernacular building forms.These building forms were shaped by the legacy of Ireland's recent pagan past whose architectural leitmotif was the circular or sub-circular form, in contrast to the buildings described in Christian texts. Some of the traditional assumptions about the possible heterodox nature of the ecclesiology of the early medieval Irish church are also challenged. Irish religious topography is set within the context of a universal Christian understanding of holy space which impacts upon the topography of religious settlement not just in Ireland but further afield in Anglo-Saxon England, Gaul and the Middle East. In this the book, like many other recent studies, challenges the presumption that there was a 'Celtic church' distinctive in its practices from the wider church, while documenting the local contribution to Christian architecture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782503533162
Publisher:	Brepols Publishers
Publication date:	02/26/2010
Series:	Studia Traditionis Theologiae , #4
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Rev. Canon Dr. David Harold Jenkins is an Anglican clergyman. Presently he is a residentiary canon at Carlisle Cathedral and Director of Education for the Diocese of Carlisle.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements VII

Introduction IX

1 the Religious Topography of the Early Medieval Irish Church: An Historiographical Perspective 1

1.A Enclosure as an Expression of an Ascetic Ideal 4

1.B Monastic Hegemony: A Revisionist Critique 15

1.C Enclosure as an Expression of Power and Influence 25

1.D Enclosure as an Expression of Sacred Identity 33

1.E Enclosure in a Non-Irish Context 40

1.F Conclusion 52

2 Slab-Shrines and Oratories: The Anatomy of Religious Settlement Within the Early Medieval Irish Church 54

2.A The Anatomy of Settlement: An Archaeological Context 56

2.B The Anatomy of Settlement: A Literary Context 81

2.B.1 The Praxis of Enclosure 81

2.B.2 The Anatomy of the Enclosed Space 89

2.C Conclusion 101

3 From the Tabernacle to the New Jerusalem: An Exploration of a Biblical Hermeneutic for the Topography of Religious Settlement 104

3.A The Bible and the Sanctification of Space 105

3.B The Tabernacle and the Temple: A Textual Depiction of Sacred Topography 109

3.C The Temple Motif within Patristic Exegesis 123

3.D The Temple Motif within Early Irish Exegesis 128

3.E Conclusion 145

4 And Was Jerusalem Builded Here?: The Making of a Religious Landscape 147

4.A A Scriptural 'Canon of Planning' 148

4.B An Eremitic Inheritance 154

4.B.1 The Egyptian Desert 154

4.B.2 Gaul 162

4.C An Eremitic Paradigm? 166

4.D The Creation of a Religious Landscape 170

4.D.1 'Made in Ireland': The Impact of the Vernacular Form upon the Layout of Religious Settlement 170

4.D.2 'Made in Ireland': The Impact of Native Building Materials and Techniques upon the Religious Landscape 176

4.E Conclusion 182

Epilogue 184

Bibliography 189

Indexes 211