Altars of Ammo: Catholic Materiality and the Visual Culture of World War II
During World War II, US photographers, government censors, and publishers-Catholic and non-Catholic alike-were attracted to images depicting the intersection of Roman Catholic ritual forms and military equipment such as Jeeps, ammunition boxes, cannons, and artillery shells. The motif was seductive...
| Published in: | Material religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2019]
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| In: |
Material religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
World War
/ Catholicism
/ Ritual
/ Cultic object
/ Military
/ Object (Philosophy)
/ Picture
/ Culture
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| Further subjects: | B
Photography
B religion and violence B Visual Culture B Roman Catholicism B Ritual B military chaplaincy B Aesthetics B American Religion B World War II |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | During World War II, US photographers, government censors, and publishers-Catholic and non-Catholic alike-were attracted to images depicting the intersection of Roman Catholic ritual forms and military equipment such as Jeeps, ammunition boxes, cannons, and artillery shells. The motif was seductive in the environment of wartime propaganda for reasons beyond its ideological affirmation of American religious pluralism. Catholic objects-including especially Eucharistic hosts, altars, priestly vestments and bodies, and crucifixes-offered an aesthetically compelling visual match for the objects of war. The spectacle of Catholic materiality also tapped into longstanding fascination with Catholic forms as a quasi-forbidden expression of and invitation to an alternate modernity. The wartime depiction of Catholic forms in martial settings offered a way to signal distance from the logics of modern war without at the same time abandoning the war and the wider US projects to which it contributed. The images thus helped advance a form of Catholic secularism. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2019.1631694 |