Dorina Miller Parmenter is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. Her research interests include material uses of the Christian Bible.
Tabs navigation
Cite BOOK
Close the cite modalStyle
. (2019). How and Why Books Matter. Essays on the Social Function of Iconic Texts. Equinox Publishing. https://doi.org/
. How and Why Books Matter: Essays on the Social Function of Iconic Texts. Equinox Publishing, 2019. Book. https://doi.org/
(2019): How and Why Books Matter: Essays on the Social Function of Iconic Texts, Equinox Publishing, [online] https://doi.org/
. How and Why Books Matter. Equinox Publishing, 2019.
. How and Why Books Matter. Equinox Publishing, 2019. doi.org:
Format
Book
How and Why Books Matter
Toggle the cite modalEssays on the Social Function of Iconic Texts
Religious and secular communities ritualize some books in one, two, or three dimensions. They ritualize the dimension of semantic interpretation through teaching, preaching, and scholarly commentary. This dimension receives almost all the attention of academic scholars. Communities also ritualize a... Read more
Published: 2019
Pages: 230
eBook: 9781781797693
Paperback: 9781781797686
ePub: 9781800507357
Hardback: 9781781797679
Religious and secular communities ritualize some books in one, two, or three dimensions. They ritualize the dimension of semantic interpretation through teaching, preaching, and scholarly commentary. This dimension receives almost all the attention of academic scholars. Communities also ritualize a text's performative dimension through public reading, recitation, and song, and also by reproducing its contents in art, theatre and film. This dimension is receiving increasing scholarly attention, especially in religious studies and anthropology. A third textual dimension, the iconic dimension, gets ritualized by manipulating the physical text, decorating it, and displaying it. This dimension has received almost no academic attention, yet features prominently in the most common news stories about books, whether about e-books, academic libraries, rare manuscript discoveries, or scripture desecrations. By calling attention to the iconic dimension of books, James Watts argues that we can better understand how physical books mediate social value and power within and between religious communities, nations, academic disciplines, and societies both ancient and modern. How and Why Books Matter will appeal to a wide range of readers interested in books, reading, literacy, scriptures, e-books, publishing, and the future of the book. It also addresses scholarship in religion, cultural studies, literacy studies, biblical studies, book history, anthropology, literary studies, and intellectual history.
Kristina Myrvold is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Linnaeus University. She is the author and editor of numerous publications on Indian cultures, religions, and migration.