"The Bread of Heaven is Enough for Me" - The Persistence of Radical Bodily Practices of Piety in Modern European Catholicicsm

About the event

The lecture presents food abstinence as a constantly contested attempt to mediate an 'ideology of transcendence' (Bräunlein) through the human body. Food abstinence is contoured as a decidedly female lay practice, often framed as an act of 'vicarious atonement' within a cluster of other bodily practices (stigmata,
ecstasies). The tension between a specifically Catholic narrative of giving meaning to suffering and bodily pain and post-Enlightenment or 'modern'everyday understandings of religion is analysedfrom a perspective of the study of religion. It also discusses this practice of piety as an enduring, if irritating, feature of Catholic piety that follows its own cultural logic.

This event from the Monday Lectures series is organised by the Department of Religious Studies.

Participation is also possible online via Webex:

All interested parties are cordially invited. Registration is not required.