Medieval churchmen typically defended religious art as "books" to teach unlettered laity their faith; but in late medieval England, Lollard accusations of idolatry stimulated renewed debate over image worship. "Popular Piety and Art in the Late Middle Ages" places this dispute within the context of the religious beliefs and devotional practices of lay people, showing how they used and responded to holy images in their parish churches, at shrines and in prayer books. Far more than substitutes for texts, holy images presented a junction of the material and spiritual, offering an increasingly literate laity access to the supernatural through the visual power of "beholding".
- ISBN10 0312293127
- ISBN13 9780312293123
- Publish Date 29 June 2002
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 26 May 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint St Martin's Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English