Jonathan Sumption
Fingering the Evidence
Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe
By Charles Freeman
Yale University Press 306pp £25 order from our bookshop
The veneration of relics is one of the most ancient and enduring practices of the Christian Church. It is attested by unimpeachable evidence as early as the second century and is almost certainly older than that. It persists, albeit in a more moderate and controlled form, to the modern day, as the occasional exhibitions of the Turin shroud and the blood of St Januarius in Naples attest.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'"Dutch Light" roots its subject in his local environment, explaining, for example, how an abundance of sand for making glass led naturally to a thriving business in optical instruments in Holland.'
Patricia Fara on the life & work of Christiaan Huygens.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/through-the-magnifying-glass
Sign up to our e-newsletter!
Get highlights from the new issue and selected archive articles, as well as exclusive competitions and subscription offers delivered straight to your inbox.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/freenewsletter
'We may not be able to shield ourselves from irrational passions such as hatred, anger, envy, mockery and pride, or from the buffetings of circumstance, but we can rise above them by obtaining insight into their nature and their causes.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-poetry-of-reason