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From ‘Fetish’ to ‘Aura’: The Charisma of Objects?

In: Journal of Religion in Europe
Author:
Martin Radermacher Center for Religious Studies (CERES), Ruhr University, Bochum, martin.radermacher@rub.de

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In the history of religions, material artifacts have often played an important role as mediations of the ‘sacred.’ They were and are worshipped, venerated, and sometimes destroyed for their assumed supernatural powers. The article reviews theoretical concepts that engage with the charismatic capacities of objects (‘fetish,’ ‘cultic image,’ and ‘aura’) and discusses literature about ‘charismatic objects.’ It deals with the question of what kind of charisma objects may have and suggests that the term ‘charisma,’ when defined in a specific way, is a useful concept to describe and compare specific material objects from different religious traditions. These conceptual and methodological considerations are illustrated by a brief discussion of Christian relic veneration.

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