IMC 2025: Sessions
Session 1212: To Touch, or Not to Touch?: The Sense of Touch as a Method of Learning about the World, c. 300-1600, I - Tactile Experience and Medieval Theology
Wednesday 9 July 2025, 14:15-15:45
| Organisers: | Karolina Białas, Wydział Nauk o Kulturze i Sztuce, Uniwersytet Warszawski Lukasz Zak, Dipartimento di Storia della Chiesa, Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Roma |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Sylwia Matysiak, Szkola Doktorska Nauk Humanistycznych, Uniwersytet Warszawski |
| Paper 1212-a | Ennobling Touch: The Rite of Paten in the Early Medieval Pontifical Liturgy (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Liturgy, Religious Life, Theology |
| Paper 1212-b | Touch in the Daily Life of Medieval Monks: Case of Fleury Abbey in the Comparative Approach, 10th-13th Centuries (Language: English) Index terms: Daily Life, Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Paper 1212-c | 'Don't touch them, don't kiss them, don't be around them!': Physical Contact with Latins and the Spread of Heresy according to Byzantine Authors of 12th-Century Rus'ian Polemical Treatises (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Daily Life, Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life |
| Abstract | A series of two (2) session aim to explore the complex cultural significance of touch in medieval and early modern societies, examining its roles in philosophy, theology, medical practices, and daily life to enhance our understanding of historical perspectives on human interaction. The subject of the sense of touch was discussed by various authors in medieval philosophy and theology. In accordance with Christian tradition, the senses—including touch—were an essential part of human beings, created by God to serve as a means of acquiring knowledge of the world. The significance of this sense was also crucial for understanding the religious norms that both laity and clergy were expected to follow, particularly in relation to liturgical matters. The papers below will address the perception of touch in the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Andrew M. Steele), the issue of physical contact between members of the Western and Orthodox Churches (Grzegorz Garbuz), the regulations concerning the touching of the paten in medieval papal liturgy (Łukasz Żak), and the norms of touch applied to medieval monks (Karolina Białas). |