International Conference "Creating Holiness: Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacred- ness (in Muslim Cultures)",
Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz, Germany,
17-20 June
2024
Call for Papers
Conference in Mainz (Akademy of Sciences and Literature)
17.–20. June 2024
Creating Holiness: Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacredness
Every written culture has its sacred texts. Through the regular reading of these texts, which is usually guided by a fixed rite in the same direction, a group of people reassures themselves of their community and constructs a place of cultural identity beyond the profane. The sacred text not only defines the respective beliefs, but also represents the physical expression of divine revelation, and is often itself revered as a representative of the divine in ritual. Such a text has a special quality as a manuscript, since its value can be increased not only by the high quality of the material and decoration, but also by the extraordinary virtues of the scribe and the circumstances of the act of writing itself. There are notions of what requirements such a scribe should fulfill and what rituals writing itself is subject to. The process of writing becomes a sacred act, a divine service, or an ascetic practice.
This conference will address the questions of what turns a book – or an icon of the Eastern churches – into a sacred object in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist cultures, and how is sacredness connected to the material.
Travel and accommodation costs can be covered by the organizers on behalf of the ToRoll project.
Please send your abstract (150-200 words) to PD Dr Annett Martini by December, 15th 2023: amartini[at]zedat.fu-berlin.de.