New Publication by Dr. Jenn Cianca

Dr. Jenn Cianca of the Department of Classical Studies and Liberal Arts will soon be launching a new monograph entitled Sacred Ritual, Profane Space: The Roman House as Early Christian Meeting Place, to be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.

In this new publication, Dr. Cianca examines Roman homes as sacred sites used for worship by both early Christians as well as by Romans who adhered to a polytheistic domestic cult, and argues that one did not necessarily preclude the other. Dr. Cianca sheds new light on the long-standing relationship between space and spirituality, and on the complex history that gradually moved private worship from the home to sacred meeting spaces. Her study raises important questions about identity, about the practice of sacred rituals and about domestic practices of worship. In a contemporary context where places of worship are being redefined and stripped of their sacred functions, it is fascinating and enlightening to discover how initial sacred spaces were constructed, centuries ago through ritual enactment in early Christian communities.