Looking for Mary Magdalene

Alternative Pilgrimage and Ritual Creativity at Catholic Shrines in France
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-19-989842-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 573 g

Reihe: Oxford Ritual Studies Series

Anne Fedele offers a comprehensive ethnography of alternative pilgrimages to French Catholic shrines dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Drawing on more than three years of extensive fieldwork, she describes how pilgrims from Italy, Spain, Britain, and the United States interpret Catholic figures, symbols, and sites according to spiritual theories and practices derived from the transnational Neopagan movement.

Fedele pays particular attention to the life stories of the pilgrims, the crafted rituals they perform, and the spiritual-esoteric literature they draw upon. She examines how they devise their rituals; why this kind of spirituality is increasingly prevalent in the West; and the influence of anthropological literature on the pilgrims. Among these pilgrims, spirituality is lived and negotiated in interaction with each other and with textual sources: Jungian psychology, Goddess mythology, and
''indigenous'' traditions merge into a corpus of theories and practices centered upon the worship of divinities such as the Goddess, Mother Earth, and the sacralization of the reproductive cycle.

The pilgrims' rituals present a critique of the Roman Catholic Church and the medical establishment and have critical implications for contemporary discourses on gender. Looking for Mary Magdalene is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in ritual and pilgrimage.

Zielgruppe

Students and scholars of ritual, pilgrimage, Catholicism, religion, and anthropology

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fedele, Anna

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholizismus, Römisch-Katholische Kirche
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Liturgik, Christliche Anbetung, Sakramente, Rituale, Feiertage

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
1. ''GOING TO SEE MARY MAGDALENE'': STARTING OUT ON A PILGRIMAGE
2. THE LOST CONNECTION WITH THE FEMININE
3. THE SAINTE-BAUME AND ITS MANY LAYERS
4. PILGRIMS DEALING WITH THEIR CHRISTIAN BACKGROUNDS
5. CELEBRATING MENSTRUAL BLOOD
6. WOUNDED MAGDALENES
7. EMBRACING THE DARKNESS
8. ENDING THE PILGRIMAGE AND RETURNING HOME
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
MAPS

Über Autor(innen)

Anne Fedele is a research fellow at the Center for Research in Anthropology, Lisbon University Institute.