Paradiesgemeinschaften

Paradisiacal places in the Bible, such as the Garden of Eden and the Heavenly Jerusalem, stimulated the imagination in the Middle Ages and developed a diverse tradition of representation that continues to have an impact today. The paradisiacal place of longing forms a concrete or idealised vanishing point that gives rise to reflections on alternative spatial, temporal and social orders. This volume examines the specifics of medieval and early modern concepts of paradisiacal places, focussing on German-language literature of the Middle Ages and early modern period. The individual articles each examine the significance of ideas of paradise for the conception of alternative spaces, times and communities. Here, different recombination possibilities of paradise elements become visible, which prove the permeability and interrelatedness of spatiotemporal and social aspects of ideas of paradise.