Scales of Devotion: Relative Size and Embodied Religious Experience.

Today, faced with our collective impact upon—and individual limitations within—the anthropocene, we are increasingly sensitive to notions of human and inhuman scale. Channeling this contemporary awareness, this session seeks papers exploring medieval perspectives on scale as a means of mediating the world through religious practice. From the miniature to the monumental, consideration of the relative sizes of objects and their users is key to understanding embodied devotional experience. For example, pilgrim badges—petite and portable—can be read as possessing apotropaic powers disproportionate to their stature, while depictions of giants, like St. Christopher, bridge the gap between public piety and private prayer.

Session #6340 In-Person
Organizers: Rebekkah Hart (rebekkah.hartcase.edu) and Cecily Hughes (cecily.hughescase.edu)
Submissions: due September 15 through the ICMS conference portal
https://icms.confex.com/icms/2025/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=6340