Purkis speaks on medieval Christian relics, physical interaction with the divine

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

Photo description: Dr. William Purkis (right) came to give a presentation at Concordia University Nebraska at the invitation of his friend Dr. Matt Phillips (left)

By Maddy Peters, Sports Editor

Dr. William J. Purkis from the University of Birmingham came to Concordia University Nebraska to speak about relics in the Medieval Christian church and how being able to interact with physical connections to the divine was a crucial touchpoint for Christian devotion.

His talk, ‘“The Greatest Lies”? Devotion to Relics of the Christ in Medieval Latin Christianity’ was about the time period between the fourth and 15th centuries where relic worship reached its peak in Western Europe.

Purkis’ presentation centered on the “why” behind relic veneration. The quoted phrase in his presentation title comes from Martin Luther’s Table Talks on relics and how he thought it was wrong that they were considered to be on par with experiencing Jesus physically.

“Relics are important to the Medieval Latin Christianity because it is a religious culture that is obsessed with materiality. Being able to touch, to see, to kiss sacred objects is a strong feature within medieval Christianity. And that manifests itself in terms of devotion to the saints or when pilgrims were on pilgrimages that they seek out shrines of saints,” said Purkis.

God commands that ‘thou shalt not have any gods before Him’ in the 10 Commandments; yet relics seem to fit the standard description of an idol: something physical and man-made being treated as though it were holy.

Purkis claims that this idea did not come from impiety, but from a desire to be physically close to God and Jesus like the apostles of the New Testament. Those born after the death and ascension of Christ could no longer use their empirical senses to experience Jesus outside of Holy Communion. Relics were created and venerated so that pilgrims could have a personal experience with God.

“They have no physical entry point; no points of physical contact with their God. And so relics provide a valuable conduit through which they might establish contact with the Savior both in terms of His clothes, His shoes, things He touched, the instruments of His suffering, execution, death, the places He walked, so the desire to acquire and possess that material culture as a way to overcome the fact that His body is no longer on earth,” said Purkis.

He used Giovanni dal Ponte’s 15th century painting “Mary Magdalene Embracing the Cross” to exemplify the Medieval Christian’s connection to Jesus and relics. On this reliquary, Mary Magdalene is holding onto the cross of Jesus following His crucifixion. She is looking out to the audience with a pained expression as she attempts to connect with what she thinks are the last remnants of her Lord.

Purkis claims that this painting encapsulates the medieval Christians’ desire to be close to Jesus, but their inability to do so without the use of physical items that Jesus touched.

“And it’s an image that shows the moment after the crucifixion where Jesus is being buried and Mary Magdalene is left clutching the cross because her Savior; her God has been crucified and taken down from the cross and is now being buried. And so the image shows the significance to her of relics,” said Purkis.

Purkis supported his thesis with popular artwork themes from the medieval period. The first comes from depictions of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Women who found the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. He pointed out how the women were often depicted as melancholic despite the exciting news that “He is not here, He is risen.”

“And what’s interesting about that, the image, to me is, in the theory of Christianity, the anticipation of the resurrection, it should be a moment of celebration because the fulfillment of hope for the resurrection has come true because Jesus is no longer in the tomb, he’s risen from the dead. But what’s striking to me is in all those images is the sadness on the faces of the three Marys,” said Purkis.

He also parallels this idea with the “noli me tangere,” Latin for “Do not touch me.” These words come from John 20:17 where Jesus tells Mary Magdalene to let go of Him. Artists would depict Mary Magdalene reaching out to Jesus, but He refuses saying that she cannot.

“And that is, again, it should be a moment of celebration, it’s the proof of the resurrection, but like the medieval devotee that is not able to touch Jesus because He has ascended to heaven, Mary Magdalene is warned off, not able to touch. She has to think differently about how to do her faith, I suppose,” said Purkis.

The fact that Christians could not be near caused them to draw near to the leftover items from history and attribute holiness to the items.

“On the one hand, the culture is all about presence and touch and contact. The theology of resurrection and ascension means that ‘touch’ is not possible, so how do you square that circle and my answer to that is: that’s where relics come in. They enable you to accept and celebrate the resurrection and ascension whilst also satisfying the desire for touch,” said Purkis.

These artworks demonstrated how medieval Christians felt about how they could show their faith and devotion to a God who once walked the earth, but had returned to heaven with the promise of a return.

“I think the combination of those images: the empty tomb, the warning—the prohibition about touching, that to me unlocks quite a lot about medieval thought-worlds about the value of contact, the value of being able to engage physically with sacred places, sacred things, but also about the central sacred person is absent and so it’s kind of cognitive dissonance,” said Purkis.

Dr. Purkis was invited to Concordia by Dr. Matthew Phillips, one of the university’s professors of history. The two met while completing their doctoral studies and became colleagues and friends.

“He in fact invited me to try and come here a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t make it work with my schedule. This opportunity arose this week because I’m giving a conference keynote in Kansas City, so this was a moment where he [Phillips] said, ‘Well, now’s the time to come to Concordia as well.’ Real glad to be here,” said Purkis.

Purkis’ talk was received positively by students who heard it. Many of the students were connected to church work and enjoyed the insight provided by the forum.

Sophomore Nathan Sollberger, a classical liberal arts major in the pre-seminary program, enjoyed learning more about relics.

“Dr Purkis overview of medieval Christian relics was both surprising and informative. I learned things about the topic that I had never heard before, though I thought it was a simple topic. But that’s just it: it isn’t simple. Dr. Purkis’ in-depth research proves that relics offer hours of fun! 10/10, would recommend,” said Sollberger.

Junior Meredith Boster, a secondary education major alongside a Lutheran Teacher Diploma meanwhile, was interested in the new depth of perspective his talk provided for Lutherans who deny the veneration of relics and saints.

“Dr. Purkis’ presentation provided a depth of information about a commonly misunderstood topic amongst Lutherans, which was quite fascinating and important. My favorite part was when he spoke about the five donkey legs!” said Boster.

The example Boster mentioned referred to an anecdote provided by Luther in one of his table talks about a friend who bought a relic from a priest of the donkey that Jesus rode on into Jerusalem.

“This is the holy relic on which the lord Christ corporally did sit, with his sacred legs touching this ass’s leg… when he got to the borders, he bragged of his holy relic in the presence of four others, his comrades when lo it turned out that each of them had likewise received from the same priest a leg… thereupon all exclaimed with great wonder: Lord! Had that ass five legs?” said Luther’s text.

Senior Sadie Henson, a music and classical liberal arts major, appreciated that Purkis grounded the presentation in the figure of Luther, a familiar figure for a Lutheran college to latch onto throughout the talk.

“The lecture left me wanting to know more. The answers to the questions at the end of the lecture led to sneak peeks into other related topics. He rounded out the lecture by beginning with Dr. Martin Luther’s reaction to the relics of his time, stepping back and explaining the background and culture which led to the relics of the Reformation time period, and ending with connecting it all back to how and why Dr. Luther reacted to both relics and the sacraments,” said Henson.

Purkis is the head of the School of History and Cultures at University of Birmingham and has multiple publications including two books: “Material Religion in the Crusading World: A Special Issue of Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, and Belief,” published in 2018 and edited “The Charlemagne Legend in the Medieval Latin Texts,” published in 2016.