Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)
Material Scriptures vs. Iconic Books
David Dault has blogged about the overlap and differences between his
Material Scriptures project and the Iconic Books Project. He observes that:
Material Scripture's complementary trajectory attempts to explore Althusser's claim that "ideology has a material existence." Where Watts's project looks at the physical object being transformed sociologially into an ideological signifier, Material Scripture looks closely at how theologies (as ideologies) are transformed into the layered materiality of "book-ness."
In both cases the question of materiality is paramount, but the methodologies are distinct enough to be generative of some deep conversations in the years to come.
Yes, indeed!
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