Pijcież moi przyjaciele. Upijcie się! Idea duchowego pijaństwa i mistyka oblubieńcza w w protestanckim wnętrzu kościelnym

The increasing significance of bridal mysticism as a distinctive tendency in seventeenth-century Lutheran devotion made a great impact on emblematic concepts in both emblem books and in ecclesiastical spaces. These concepts were transformed in order to emphasize chosen theological ideas related to the Song of Songs. The basis for the examination is a co prehensive program of the southern gallery in the church at Steinhagen by Stralsund (c. 1670–1680), inspired by Georg Philipp Harsdörffer’s emblems in Johann Michael Dilherr’s Göttliche Liebesflamme (1651), yet revealing slight alterations within biblical verses in order to present various play on meanings. The theological core constitutes the idea of spiritual drunkenness, widely known from medieval literature. It was visualized with the help of a pictura from Andreas Friedrich’s Emblemata nova (1617), yet transformed in the spirit of illustrations to mystical visions. This highly individual example reveals a strong influence of Johann Arndt as a crucial representative of the heart devotion (Herzfrömmigkeit).