Shattering the Lightning: Bells and Magic in Reformation Germany

For centuries the sounds of church bells had many critical functions in European cities: they defined space and time, they called the faithful together for worship, and, not least, they were thought to ward off evil spirits and the storms that they stirred up. The ability of bells to banish storms by way of clergy’s traditional ritual consecration came under severe attack during the religious reformations of sixteenth-century Germany. The Protestant critique of “weather ringing” and the Catholic defence of it provide fascinating insights into religious understandings of sacral space in the pre-modern world. This talk will explore the history and meaning of weather ringing in post-Reformation Germany, showing how the persistence of traditional beliefs thwarted official efforts to strip bells of their sacral power.

This event is co-sponsored by the Green College Series, Transforming Sounds / Altered Selves: How Music Changes in Time, Changes Us, and Changes Our Worlds.