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.)

Saturday, December 13, 2014

CFP for SCRIPT panels at the 2015 AAR/SBL in Atlanta


SCRIPT will once again be presenting concurrent panels with the AAR/SBL Annual Meetings in Atlanta on November 21-24, 2015.

This year's theme is “Sensing Books, Sensing Scriptures” 

We invite papers on all aspects of iconic and performative texts, and especially papers that explore the sensory aspects of engaging with books and scriptures.

SBL members should submit paper proposals through the SBL conference site. Those not members of SBL should submit paper proposals to scriptsecretary@gmail.com. 

Deadline: March 4, 2015.

CFP for SCRIPT panels at the EIR in Montreal in May


SCRIPT will once again be presenting panels of papers on iconic and performative texts at the Eastern International Regional meeting of the AAR in Montreal, May 1-2.


We invite proposals for papers that address the iconic and performative dimensions of specific texts or a range of texts. We particularly encourage studies that also engage the EIR's theme "Desire & Devotion", but all SCRIPT related subjects are welcome.


Each proposal should contain the following in a single e-mail attachment in MS Word format:
  • One-page abstract (300 words maximum) describing the nature of the paper or panel
  • Current CV(s) for the participant(s)
  • Cover page that includes the submitter’s full name, title, institution, phone number, fax number, e-mail, and mailing address. For panel proposals, identify the primary contact person
Send proposals to scriptsecretary@gmail.com. 
Deadline: February 1, 2015.