Christ Child in Medieval Culture

Mary Dzon is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Tennessee.Theresa M. Kenney is a professor of English at the University of Dallas.

‘The abiding impression of this collection – and every essay repays reading and re-reading – is of the extraordinary richness and poetry of medieval devotions and its remarkable freedom from sentimental fripperies.’- Henrietta Leyser (Journal of Ecclesiastical History) ‘A lively collection of essays.’- Elisabeth Dutton (Speculum) ‘A fascinating volume that makes highly entertaining reading, and should be of widespread scholarly interest.’- Judith Oliver (The Medieval Review) ‘Meticulously documented and edited, this book provides an impressively rich display of the intersections of medieval theology with the visual arts, literary expression, and popular devotion… We will certainly keep this "source-book" to explore further the ever-endearing and engaging figure of God as baby and little boy.’- Laurie Postlewate (The Catholic Historical Review vol 101:03:2015) ‘The book is highly relevant for those interested in the Middle Ages, the history of Christianity, as well as religion and the arts; it can be an interesting point of departure for future studies on the construction of childhood in the West.’- Daniel Sáenz (Journal of Religion and Culture)

• Abbreviations Introduction: The Infancy of Scholarship on the Medieval Christ ChildMary Dzon and Theresa KenneySECTION ONE: The Christ Child as Sacrifice The Christ Child as Sacrifice: A Medieval Tradition and the English Cycle PlaysLeah MarcusThe Manger as Calvary and Altar in the Middle English Nativity LyricTheresa KenneySigns of Death: The Sacrificial Christ Child in Late Medieval Art Elina GertsmanThe Christ Child in the Tree: The Motif in the Thirteenth-Century Wood-of-the-Cross Legends and Arthurian RomancesNicole Fallon SECTION TWO: The Christ Child and Feminine Spirituality Birgitta of Sweden and Christ’s ClothingMary DzonWomen Wielding Knives: The Circumcision of Christ by His Mother in an Illustrated Manuscript of the Meditationes vitae Christi (Paris Bibliothèque Nationale de France MS. ital. 115)Holly FloraIhesus ist unser!: The Christ Child in the German Sister Books Richard KieckheferSECTION THREE: The Question of the Christ Child’s Development The Holy Tooth: Dentition, Childhood Development, and the Cult of the Christ ChildWilliam MacLehose ‘The Ink of Our Mortality’: The Late-Medieval Image of the Writing Christ ChildMary McDevittReshapings of the Childhood Miracles of JesusPamela SheingornEpilogueMiri RubinManuscripts CitedWorks CitedContributorsIndex