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.)

Monday, September 21, 2020

SCRIPT online conference panels, December 3 and 9

 

SCRIPT panels at the online AAR/SBL meeting:

Panel 1: Performing Iconic Texts -- December 3, 11:00-13:00 EST

    • "Reenacting ritual contract: a Tibetan text between Buddhist enlightenment and local cosmology," Maria Turek, University of Toronto
    • "Mobile Applications and Religious Subjectivities in the Swaminarayan Sampraday," Bhakti Mamtora, The College of Wooster
    • "A Magical Book That Nobody Reads: Expanding Discussions of Iconic Scripture to Include the Dimension of ‘Charismatic Technology’ ," David Dault, Loyola Chicago

Panel 2: Seeing Iconic Texts -- December 9, 17:00-19:00 EST

    • "Scribing an Iconic Text: An Experiential, Performative Approach to Writing Mezuzot," Jonathan Homrighausen, Duke University
    • "Talismanic Significance of the Qur'an in the Mansions of Ottoman Cairo," Juan E. Campo, UCSB
    • "The Bible as my Witness: Digital Bibles, Visual Anonymity, and Performative Iconicity," Dorina Miller Parmenter, Spalding University
    • "A Knot in the Rosary: Rilke's *Letters on Cézanne* as Liturgical Text," Dan Siedell, Drew University