The Violence of the World: Reconsidering the Voice of a 12th-century Baptismal Font
The Violence of the World: Reconsidering the Voice of a 12th-century Baptismal Font

Summary/Abstract: This article reinterprets the 12th-century baptismal font of Sønder Broby church (on the island of Funen, Denmark) by arguing that its diverse imagery - the green man, beard-puller, lion attacking a man felling a tree, and enthroned Christ - forms a coherent visual statement when read through the sacrament of baptism and the cultural presence of violence in medieval life. The authors show how each motif embodies forms of physical, emotional or social violence, from anger to inner turmoil, honour, cruelty and divine judgment. By including the font’s vegetal, sheaf-like base, they argue that themes of regeneration, fertility and communal labour unify these scenes. The font thus emerges as a multivalent, socially embedded object that articulated the community’s ethical world and shaped the emotional experience of baptism. Rather than a simple moralising programme, it offered a complex meditation on human existence, transformation and eschatological hope within a culture deeply familiar with violence.

• Details
• Contents