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The Word in the Wilderness : Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania / Alexander Lawrence Ames.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Pietist, Moravian, and Anabaptist Studies ; 5Publisher: University Park, PA : Penn State University Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©2020Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) : 35 illustrationsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780271092607
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 745.6/709748 23
LOC classification:
  • ND3035.P4 A44 2020eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface: "The Quill Is My Plow" -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Sources, Methods, and Abbreviations -- Introduction: "Pages of a Mystical Character"; German Manuscripts in American History -- 1 "Heaven Is My Fatherland": Manuscript Culture in an Age of Evangelical Piety -- 2 "The Spirit of the Letter": Calligraphy and Spirituality During the Long Era of Manuscripts -- 3 "Worship Always the Scripture": Teaching Literacy and Pious Wisdom in German Pennsylvania -- 4 "Incense Hill": Song, Image, and Ambient Manuscripts -- 5 Marching to "Step and Time": Text, Commemoration, and the Rituals of Everyday Life -- Conclusion: "Errand into the Wilderness"; Making Meaning from Manuscripts -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: Once a vibrant part of religious life for many Pennsylvania Germans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Fraktur manuscripts today are primarily studied for their decorative qualities. The Word in the Wilderness takes a different view, probing these documents for what they tell us about the lived religious experiences of the Protestant communities that made and used them and opening avenues for reinterpretation of this well-known, if little understood, set of cultural artifacts.The resplendent illuminated religious manuscripts commonly known as Fraktur have captivated collectors and scholars for generations. Yet fundamental questions about their cultural origins, purpose, and historical significance remain. Alexander Lawrence Ames addresses these by placing Fraktur manuscripts within a "Pietist paradigm," grounded in an understanding of how their makers viewed "the Word," or scripture. His analysis combines a sweeping overview of Protestant Christian religious movements in Europe and early America with close analysis of key Pennsylvania devotional manuscripts, revealing novel insights into the religious utility of calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and devotional reading as Protestant spiritual enterprises. Situating the manuscripts in the context of transatlantic religious history, early American spirituality, material culture studies, and the history of book and manuscript production, Ames challenges long-held approaches to Pennsylvania German studies and urges scholars to engage with these texts and with their makers and users on their own terms. Featuring dozens of illustrations, this lively, engaging book will appeal to Fraktur scholars and enthusiasts, historians of early America, and anyone interested in the material culture and spiritual practices of the German-speaking residents of Pennsylvania.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780271092607

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface: "The Quill Is My Plow" -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Sources, Methods, and Abbreviations -- Introduction: "Pages of a Mystical Character"; German Manuscripts in American History -- 1 "Heaven Is My Fatherland": Manuscript Culture in an Age of Evangelical Piety -- 2 "The Spirit of the Letter": Calligraphy and Spirituality During the Long Era of Manuscripts -- 3 "Worship Always the Scripture": Teaching Literacy and Pious Wisdom in German Pennsylvania -- 4 "Incense Hill": Song, Image, and Ambient Manuscripts -- 5 Marching to "Step and Time": Text, Commemoration, and the Rituals of Everyday Life -- Conclusion: "Errand into the Wilderness"; Making Meaning from Manuscripts -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Once a vibrant part of religious life for many Pennsylvania Germans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Fraktur manuscripts today are primarily studied for their decorative qualities. The Word in the Wilderness takes a different view, probing these documents for what they tell us about the lived religious experiences of the Protestant communities that made and used them and opening avenues for reinterpretation of this well-known, if little understood, set of cultural artifacts.The resplendent illuminated religious manuscripts commonly known as Fraktur have captivated collectors and scholars for generations. Yet fundamental questions about their cultural origins, purpose, and historical significance remain. Alexander Lawrence Ames addresses these by placing Fraktur manuscripts within a "Pietist paradigm," grounded in an understanding of how their makers viewed "the Word," or scripture. His analysis combines a sweeping overview of Protestant Christian religious movements in Europe and early America with close analysis of key Pennsylvania devotional manuscripts, revealing novel insights into the religious utility of calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and devotional reading as Protestant spiritual enterprises. Situating the manuscripts in the context of transatlantic religious history, early American spirituality, material culture studies, and the history of book and manuscript production, Ames challenges long-held approaches to Pennsylvania German studies and urges scholars to engage with these texts and with their makers and users on their own terms. Featuring dozens of illustrations, this lively, engaging book will appeal to Fraktur scholars and enthusiasts, historians of early America, and anyone interested in the material culture and spiritual practices of the German-speaking residents of Pennsylvania.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)