extreme; however, affective piety was an important part of medieval religious instruction, designed to stir the personal devotion of people living in a society that took religion for granted. In their private chambers, using a picture, a statue, or spoken prayers to feed their spiritual imagination, the devout entered into the suffering of Christ, a martyr or some other holy figure with a psychological totality that we today would probably describe as a very extreme form of method acting.
Many modern Christians may be tempted to dismiss or ridicule such devotional practices, yet these same critics may have no problem with the idea of responding with powerful emotion to contemporary religious music or extemporaneous spoken prayer. Meanwhile secular culture provides many opportunities for people to cry over the imaginary troubles of soap opera characters, or to cheer or curse a televised sporting event. In the absence of television or recorded sound, the medieval faithful responded in much the same way to icons, statues, or music or dialogue from live performers.
For more on affective piety, see "'Crucifye hem, Crucifye hem': The Subject and Affective Response in Middle English Passion Narratives", by Laurelle LeVert (a former classmate of mine).
June, 1997 -- first published in (Re)Soundings
16 Jul 1999 -- updated for UWEC
May 2003 -- updated for Seton Hill University
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