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Historically ThinkingAuthor: Al Zambone
We believe that when people think historically, they are engaging in a disciplined way of thinking about the world and its past. We believe it gives thinkers a knack for recognizing nonsense; and that it cultivates not only intellectual curiosity and rigor, but also intellectual humility. Join Al Zambone, author of Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life, as he talks with historians and other professionals who cultivate the craft of historical thinking. Language: en-us Genres: Documentary, History, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy of the Western Christian Church, with Cosima Clara Gillhammer
Wednesday, 9 July, 2025
The liturgy of the Christian church is often dismissed today as archaic, arcane—or dead. But as Cosima Clara Gillhammer shows in her new book Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy, these ritual forms were once the very heartbeat of Western culture and continue to shape not only our cultural memory but even contemporary cultural practice.In this episode, we explore how liturgical practices shaped medieval life, art, and literature—and why echoes of the liturgy still resound today in movie soundtracks, national ceremonies, and even the architecture around us. Gillhammer argues that far from being merely theological abstractions, liturgical forms were deeply human, and gave language to joy, grief, awe, and the cycles of time. We trace how those patterns wove themselves into everything from Michelangelo’s Pietà to John Trumbull’s Battle of Bunker Hill—and even to James Bond’s Skyfall. Far from being obscure or antique, liturgy turns out to be the roots of much what we take for granted. Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy is published by Reaktion. Cosima Clara Gillhammer is Career Development Fellow in English at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. She teaches and researches medieval literature, culture, and liturgy.
