Resumen de ‘Wandelabendmahl’: Lutheran ‘Walking Communion’ and its Expression in Material Culture
This article discusses one specific way in which Protestant communion was, and still is, celebrated: the ‘Wandelabendmahl’, or ‘walking communion’, in which communicants receive bread and wine at the two sides of the altar, walking around it in between. After a general discussion of the ‘Wandelabendmahl’ in Lutheranism, the article examines how this rite was and is reflected in material culture, especially in today's northern Germany and southern Denmark. The rite was physically enshrined in church buildings by special furnishings at and around the altar. This study argues for a more holistic approach to sources: the inclusion of material culture in the study of religious practices allows for consideration and analysis of the experience of parishioners on a day-to-day basis. It is argued that it was by such means – visible, tangible, and to be experienced by each individual parishioner – that complex theological concepts were made accessible to congregations.
