Interested in the dynamics between liturgy and the spaces of its enactment I was drawn to this when it was reviewed in the Church Times, however, sadly, it did not live up to my expectations.
The first chapter “Creating sacred
places in the landscape” was engaging and its drawing out of themes
that we more readily see in so called “Celtic” contexts was
particularly interesting. The period in question was key to the
development of the landscape and settlement in England, a time when
the majority of our towns and villages took on many of the essential
characteristics which still define them today. As such an
understanding of the role of the “sacred” within that is
definitely valuable.
However for the remainder, while there
was an interest in the descriptive material, and I certainly am
better informed about pre-Conquest Churches than I was before, there
was a feeling of something missing. This missing aspect was the
interpretive layer.
Gittos seemed to be unwilling to offer
explanations for the phenomena that she was recounting. I am not
sure if this was “good scholarship” in the sense of her not
offering un-evidenced theories or whether it was simply a lack of
imagination. With a £60+ price tag this perhaps it is assumed that
the readership would be in a position to draw their own conclusions
as it is certainly priced beyond the reach of the “general”
reader.
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