Call for Contributions - Sensing the Sacred: Proprioception and Kinesthesia in Ancient Greek Religion

This collection seeks to explore the underappreciated roles of proprioception, the body’s knowledge and awareness of movement, posture, and spatial orientation, and kinesthesia, the body’s ability to perceive its own positionality in relation to itself, in religious rituals and practices of the ancient Greek world. By examining the intersection of sensory perception, bodily awareness, and spiritual experience, this volume aims to examine the corporeal dimensions of religious expression in antiquity.
 
Proprioception and kinesthesia are fundamental aspects of human sensory experience, influencing physical coordination and psychological states, but also the way one understands their physical place in the environment. In the context of ancient religious practices, proprioceptive awareness played a crucial role in ritual performance, the embodiment of divine presence, and the cultivation of religious experiences. However, scholarly focus has traditionally been placed on visual and auditory senses in religious contexts, often overlooking the somatic domain. This volume proposes to fill this gap by bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship that reveals how ancient Greek religion integrated the ‘inner senses’ of proprioception and kinesthesia into religious practices.
 
By bringing together varied approaches to ancient bodily awareness, this collection aims to establish new methodological paradigms for investigating sensory aspects of historical religious practice. The volume’s innovative focus on proprioception and kinesthesia promises to enhance our understanding of how ancient peoples experienced, enacted, and transmitted religious knowledge through embodied practice.
 
Potential Themes and Topics (not prescriptive!)
Theoretical Frameworks and Methodological Approaches

• Historical conceptions in Greek medical and philosophical texts
• Integration of modern neuroscientific frameworks
• Phenomenological approaches to ancient bodily awareness
• Linguistic analysis of proprioceptive and kinesthetic terminology
• Methodological innovations in studying embodied experience

 
Ritual Performance and Movement

• Processional movements in religious ceremonies
• Choreographed ritual sequences and sacred dance
• Athletic competitions as religious expression
• Martial exercises in warrior cults
• Architectural influence on ritual movement
• Vestmental impact on bodily awareness
• Embodiment of Morality

 
Altered States and Divine Experience

• Proprioceptive aspects of possession states
• Kinesthetic dimensions of ecstatic ritual
• Sensory modification through ascetic practices
• Movement-induced altered consciousness
• Spatial awareness in mystical experience
• Bodily awareness in divine encounter

 
Material Culture and Representation

• Movement depiction in religious iconography
• Ritual objects and proprioceptive positioning
• Sacred architecture and movement patterns
• Vestments and bodily awareness
• Spatial organisation of sanctuaries
• Tactile aspects of ritual implements

 
Transmission and Memory

• Muscle memory in ritual preservation
• Kinesthetic aspects of religious education
• Embodied knowledge transmission
• Collective movement in community ritual
• Spatial memory in sacred landscapes
• Gestural traditions and continuity

 
To ensure comprehensive coverage of these themes, we actively seek contributions from scholars across career stages and disciplinary backgrounds. The resulting volume will advance theoretical frameworks for studying ancient sensory experience whilst providing concrete case studies of proprioceptive and kinesthetic dimensions in specific ritual contexts. Proposals of not more than 750 words (not including bibliography) should be submitted by March 30th 2025, with manuscripts (of c. 8,000 words) due by March 2026. A colloquium will be held (online) in September 2025 for participants to present work-in-progress. All inquiries and proposals to Ellie Mackin Roberts ([email protected]).