{"product_id":"the-mystery-of-the-rosary-marian-devotion-and-the-reinvention-of-catholicism-9780814795910","title":"The Mystery of the Rosary: Marian Devotion and the Reinvention of Catholicism","description":"\u003cp\u003eEver since its appearance in Europe five centuries ago  the rosary has been a widespread  highly visible devotion among Roman Catholics. Its popularity has persisted despite centuries of often seismic social upheaval  cultural change  and institutional reform. In form  the rosary consists of a ritually repeated sequence of prayers accompanied by meditations on episodes in the lives of Christ and Mary. As a devotional object of round beads strung on cord or wire  the rosary has changed very little since its introduction centuries ago. Today  the rosary can be found on virtually every continent  and in the hands of hard-line traditionalists as well as progressive Catholics. It is beloved by popes  professors  protesters  commuters on their way to work  children learning their first prayers  and homeless persons seeking shelter and safety. Why has this particular devotional object been so ubiquitous and resilient  especially in the face of Catholicisms reinvention in the Early Modern  or Counter-Reformation  Era? Nathan D. Mitchell argues in lyric prose that to understand the rosarys adaptability  it is essential to consider the changes Catholicism itself began to experience in the aftermath of the Reformation. Unlike many other scholars of this period  Mitchell argues that after the Reformation Catholicism actually became more innovative and diversified rather than retrenched and monolithic. This innovation was especially evident in the sometimes subversive; visual representations of sacred subjects  such as in the paintings of Caravaggio  and in new ways of perceiving the relation between Catholic devotion and the liturgys ritual symbols. The rosary was thus involved not only in how Catholics gave flesh to their faith  but in new ways of constructing their personal and collective identity. Ultimately  Mitchell employs the history of the rosary  and the concomitant devotion to the Virgin Mary with which it is associated  as a lens through which to better understand early modern Catholic history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651962363957,"sku":"ByrdShop_0814795919","price":75.52,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780814795910.jpg?v=1781847849","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-mystery-of-the-rosary-marian-devotion-and-the-reinvention-of-catholicism-9780814795910","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}