Religions in Ritual, Spectacle, and Drama in the Medieval & Early Modern World

Religions in Ritual, Spectacle, and Drama in the Medieval & Early Modern World focuses specifically on the religious under- and over-pinnings of spectacle, ritual, and drama (in any and all senses of the terms) throughout the medieval and early modern world. In particular, the issue highlights the ways in which spectacle enacts religion and religion enacts spectacle; whether a secular play or a holy celebration, the use of spectacle, drama, and ritual participates in the reification, codification, and/or subversion of cultural assumptions and practices. This Special Issue specifically demonstrates how spectacle and ritual—of both the sacred and secular varieties—interact with varying religious cultures across the global medieval and early modern world. The essays contained in this issue address how spectacle and ritual helped to reinforce or undermine expected religious belief and practice, as well as how they either discouraged or reinforced religious pluralism and toleration as beliefs and cultures came into contact with one another’s cultural traditions.

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute an essay that pertains, broadly speaking, to the ideas of spectacle, ritual, and drama as they relate to questions or practice of religion. Spectacle is at the heart of both ritual and drama, and religion is often similarly to be found at the core of both. Whether a spectacle is tied to ritualized praxis, to celebration or mourning, or to the production of a dramatic performance, elements of religious culture are often foregrounded, particularly in the medieval and early modern world. We are particularly interested in essays that include global, non-white (or not only white), and non-Anglocentric (or not only Anglocentric) perspectives.

This Special Issue aims to showcase essays that discuss the impact and depictions of religious belief and conflict in public ritual and drama throughout the medieval and early modern periods. Specifically, the issue seeks essays that cross multiple boundaries, whether religious, cultural, social, or geographical in terms of their depictions of public spectacle, whether religious, dramatic, or both. Essays in this volume should also consider the importance of their argument’s focus on larger questions of inclusion, equity, and diversity, either within the period or relative to more contemporary discussions, whether in the classroom or in the wider world.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: religious studies, theology, literature and drama, history, art history, musicology, archeology, or another relevant field. We ask for articles that focus on the middle ages through to the early modern period (understood as flexible based on the region(s) under consideration) and specifically pertain to the focal topic of the Special Issue (religions in ritual, spectacle, and drama).

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Kristin M.S. Bezio
Dr. Samantha Dressel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.