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Our Lady (our + lady)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Undoing Trauma: Reconstructing the Church of Our Lady in Dresden

ETHOS, Issue 2 2006
Jason James
This article is an examination of the recent reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden, Germany, in relation to a desire for normalcy, which in this case finds expression in a fantasy of resurrection. The reconstruction of a monumental edifice framed as a victim of World War II and socialism both depends on and enacts the fantasy that historical loss can be undone. In addition, the project identifies Germany with German cultural heritage, which appears wholly distinct from the nation's burdened pasts, and offers a monumental symbolic touchstone for narratives of modern German history in which the nation and its citizens figure primarily as suffering victims. In this way, the reconstruction of the church embodies something more complex than mere forgetting. It enacts a fantasy of undoing loss, rendering the work of mourning unnecessary, while at the same time embracing injury and victimhood. [Germany, Dresden, nationalism, architecture, memory] [source]

Sacred Places, Domestic Spaces: Material Culture, Church, and Home at Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Brigitta

JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 3 2009
Mary Ellen Konieczny
The relationship between the material culture of public worship and congregants' homes is explored in a study of two Catholic parishes,theologically liberal St. Brigitta and conservative Our Lady of Assumption. At St. Brigitta, congregants' worship space is almost devoid of religious art and ritual objects are plain, but worshippers' homes are rich in decorative objects. By contrast, masses at Our Lady of the Assumption take place in a church filled with devotional art and ornate objects, but worshippers' homes are spare, neutrally furnished, and display few decorations. Distinct congregational logics surrounding the making of the self help to explain the material culture differences: St. Brigitta parishioners value individualized self-expression whereas Assumption's members subordinate individuality to family and church identities. Individuals use material objects not only for self-expression, but also to explicitly shape identities and make the self. [source]