Not etched in stone : essays on ritual memory, soul, and society / edited by Marie A. Conn, Thérèse McGuire.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Conn, Marie A., 1944-

McGuire, Therese Benedict.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Water--Symbolic aspects.

Water.

Rocks--Symbolic aspects.

Rocks.

Symbolism (Psychology).

Cognitive psychology.

Ritual.

Memory.

Physical Description:

ix, 130 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, [2007]

Summary:

The essays presented by Professors Marie A. Conn and Therese McGuire examine stone and water as vehicles of ritual memory through the lenses of various disciplines. In seven concise yet revealing chapters, the authors examine instances throughout history and unbound by geography of stone and water as real or abstract objects that shape our lives, possibly without our notice.

Chapter topics include: Water as a vehicle for ritual memory from the earliest days of human history to the present-day. An investigation of the aesthetic principles of the Middle Ages up to the Gothic styles of cathedrals in North America. Julian of Norwich, the famous cloistress, walled in by stone in comparison to Etty Hillesum, a WWII-era mystic, whose small desk used to write her revealing diaries became her stone cloister cell. The Irish, water, and stone in Finnegans Wake. Warming the "stone heart" of a child pummeled by the foster care system. The lack of clean water that contributes to widespread disease. Group behavior and the eventualities of war through stone-like, (unco-operative and hardened) psychological states.

Contents:

Chapter 1 "From the Rock Came Living Water: Stone and Water as Vehicles of Ritual Memory," / Marie Conn, PhD Professor of Religious Studies 1

Chapter 2 "Light on Sacred Stone," / Therese McGuire, SSJ, PhD Professor of Art History 21

Chapter 3 "Stones of Norwich, Ashes of Auschwitz; Julian of Norwich and Etty Hillesum Finding Wisdom by Praying Life Experience," / Margie Thompson, SSJ, MFA Associate Professor of Art History 43

Chapter 4 "The Water That Shattered the Stone," / Barbara Lonnquist, PhD Associate Professor of English 61

Chapter 5 "Warming the Stone Heart of a Child in Foster Care," / Nancy DeCesare, IHM, PhD Assistant Professor of Sociology 81

Chapter 6 "Remembering the Children: Changing Trends in Child and Infant Death Rates and in Memorialization" / Sara Kitchen, JD Associate Professor of Sociology 95

Chapter 7 "As Unyielding as Stone: Group Behavior and the Question of War" / Nancy Porter, PhD Associate Professor of Psychology 115.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0761837027

9780761837022

OCLC:

153578988