Spiritual Vegetation

Vegetal Nature in Religious Contexts Across Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Contributions by Naïs Virenque Contributions by Alice Laforet Contributions by Hans Rudolf Velten Contributions by Silke Winst Contributions by Marie-Luise Musiol Contributions by Franziska Wenzel Contributions by Tobias Petry Contributions by Beatrice Trînca Contributions by Achim Timmermann Contributions by Guita Lamsechi Contributions by Delia Cosentino Contributions by Sarina Tschachtli Contributions by Leopoldine Prosperetti Edited by Guita Lamsechi Edited by Beatrice Trînca

Book cover: Spiritual Vegetation

Extent: 336 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Early Modern & Renaissance Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: Berliner Mittelalter- und Fruhneuzeitforschung

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2022)

ISBN: 9783847114260

6.3 x 9.33 inches

Price: $74.00

Out of stock

The contributions concern premodern understandings of vegetal nature that encompass multiple semantics and perspectives. Scholars from the disparate fields of art history, literature, and religious studies present tantalizing studies of trees and plants in sacred and secular thought. Some discuss the concept of the Book of Nature and its implications. Others explore narratives of symbiosis between humans and vegetal material, tree-dwelling hermits, spirits metamorphosing into wood, flowers or trees that sprout from bodies or the dissolution of the self into the natural world. Complementary to these approaches are studies that suggest a collapsing of time and space in spiritually charged yet ambiguous natural motifs or topographies where forests or groves are spaces of transformative experience.


This volume concerns premodern understandings of vegetal nature that encompass multiple semantics and perspectives. Scholars from the disparate fields of art history, literature, and religious studies present tantalizing studies of trees and plants in sacred and secular thought. Some discuss the concept of the Book of Nature and its implications. Others explore narratives of symbiosis between humans and vegetal material, tree-dwelling hermits, spirits metamorphosing into wood, flowers or trees that sprout from bodies or the dissolution of the self into the natural world. Complementary to these approaches are studies that allude to a collapsing of time and space in spiritually charged yet ambiguous natural motifs or topographies where forests or groves are spaces of transformative experience.

  • Contributions by Naïs Virenque
  • Contributions by Alice Laforet
  • Contributions by Hans Rudolf Velten
  • Contributions by Silke Winst
  • Contributions by Marie-Luise Musiol
  • Contributions by Franziska Wenzel
  • Contributions by Tobias Petry
  • Contributions by Beatrice Trînca
  • Contributions by Achim Timmermann
  • Contributions by Guita Lamsechi
  • Contributions by Delia Cosentino
  • Contributions by Sarina Tschachtli
  • Contributions by Leopoldine Prosperetti
  • Edited by Guita Lamsechi
  • Edited by Beatrice Trînca