In Visible Presence: The role of light in shaping religious atmospheres
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In Visible Presence : The role of light in shaping religious atmospheres. / Bille, Mikkel; Sørensen, Tim Flohr.
The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology. red. / Konstantinos Papadopoulos; Holley Moyes. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2022. s. 303-324.Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapport › Bidrag til bog/antologi › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - CHAP
T1 - In Visible Presence
T2 - The role of light in shaping religious atmospheres
AU - Bille, Mikkel
AU - Sørensen, Tim Flohr
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This chapter explores the uses and perception of light in religious architecture. Often characterized as an ambiguous materiality—neither concrete and tangible nor distinctly immaterial—light seems to offer itself readily as both matter and metaphor for the divine. We argue in this chapter that this is precisely what happens in contemporary Danish churches, yet not without conflicts between the ideal of immaterial divinity and the need for tangible religious practices. We trace a number of luminous as well as numinous qualities to medieval church architecture, still in use today, and show that despite architectural continuities, modernist churches capture and cherish light in a number of ways that emphasize mainly its immaterial aspects. Architectonic discourse is seen as challenged by light practices in the churches, where light lends itself as an instrument for bridging the ontological positions of matter and spirit.
AB - This chapter explores the uses and perception of light in religious architecture. Often characterized as an ambiguous materiality—neither concrete and tangible nor distinctly immaterial—light seems to offer itself readily as both matter and metaphor for the divine. We argue in this chapter that this is precisely what happens in contemporary Danish churches, yet not without conflicts between the ideal of immaterial divinity and the need for tangible religious practices. We trace a number of luminous as well as numinous qualities to medieval church architecture, still in use today, and show that despite architectural continuities, modernist churches capture and cherish light in a number of ways that emphasize mainly its immaterial aspects. Architectonic discourse is seen as challenged by light practices in the churches, where light lends itself as an instrument for bridging the ontological positions of matter and spirit.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Light
KW - Luminosity
KW - Religious space
KW - Churches
KW - Metaphor
KW - Materiality
KW - Atmosphere
KW - Denmark
U2 - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788218.013.13
DO - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788218.013.13
M3 - Book chapter
SN - 9780198788218
SP - 303
EP - 324
BT - The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology
A2 - Papadopoulos, Konstantinos
A2 - Moyes, Holley
PB - Oxford University Press
CY - Oxford
ER -
ID: 108649720