Material Change: The Impact of Reform and Modernity on Material Religion in North-West Europe, 1780-1920

Material Change: The Impact of Reform and Modernity on Material Religion in North-West Europe, 1780-1920, edited by Jan De Maeyer, emerged from a scholarly initiative based at the KADOC-KU Leuven research center. Published in 2014, the volume explores the intersection of religious practice and the rise of consumer culture and modernization in Northwestern Europe. It serves as a key academic text investigating how the material culture of faith transitioned through the industrial era, shifting away from traditional liturgical frameworks toward more personalized or mass-produced expressions of belief.

The book draws together interdisciplinary research to examine how structural reforms and societal shifts transformed the physical environment of religious life. Jan De Maeyer, a noted historian of religion, curated these essays to offer a comprehensive look at how artifacts, spaces, and objects served as mediators between religious institutions and the public. The collection is widely regarded by historians for its rigorous analysis of the visual and material turn in religious studies, providing a nuanced perspective on the survival and evolution of religion within the secularizing landscapes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.