Creating Holiness. Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacredness

Organisatoren
ToRoll: Materialized Holiness, FU Berlin (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur)
Ausrichter
Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur
PLZ
55131
Ort
Mainz
Land
Deutschland
Fand statt
Hybrid
Vom - Bis
17.06.2024 - 20.06.2024
Von
Katharina Hadassah Wendl, Judaistik, Freie Universität Berlin

In June this year, the garden, lobby and conference hall of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, Germany, buzzed with international scholars. They gathered there to discuss how books, scrolls and icons are imbued with sanctity in different religious traditions.

When we launched the organization of this conference with a call for papers last October, we were overwhelmed by the large number, high quality and, above all, the incredible thematic breadth of abstracts. It was virtually impossible for us to select only a limited number of speakers based on this rich pool of submissions. This is why we decided to turn our idea of holding one conference into two: an in-person event in Mainz and a virtual conference slated for September. Researchers from Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, European countries, Ghana, India, Iran, Israel, Turkey, the USA and Vietnam are involved in making these two conferences possible. Thanks to all of them, we were able to put together two incredibly rich and diverse programs.

Fast forward to four days in June 2024, which were devoted to questions about how a book, a scroll, a woodblock or an icon can become a sacred object for a particular community and how sacredness is connected to the material used for manufacturing them. What rituals are associated with these extraordinary artefacts during their production and handling? What stories are told about them and their manufacturers? What place do the materials, the script or the layout occupy in the cultural memory of religious communities or within secularized societies?

Scholars presented research on what makes books, icons, woodcuts, inscriptions, banners and sutras sacred artefacts. Some asked how narratives, rules and customs surrounding writing tools and materials have evolved. What emerged from the panels and discussions is that all these sacred objects under investigation are somehow connected to script and text respectively.

BUI THI THANH MAI (Hanoi) presented her research on ancient sacred woodblock art and how Buddhist monks of the Truc Lam-Yen Tu tradition have approached them in the light of technological advances. MOHAMMAD HOSAIN FOROUGHI (Teheran) traced the history of the Negel Qur'an, which is revered by the people of the Iranian village of Negel and beyond as a special manuscript granting blessings and security. His presentation led to discussions about the veneration of religious books, which was picked up again after presentations by CLEMENA ANTONOVA (Vienna), CORNELIA SOLDAT (Cologne) and MIGUEL GALLÉS MAGRI (Barcelona) who talked about the making, sanctification and changing purpose and meaning of icons in Orthodox Christian traditions across different centuries. UTA LAUER (Hamburg) and RAJENDRA SINGH THAKUR (New Delhi) shared their research about Buddhist sacred literature and changing attitudes to its literary and architectural heritage. Papers on medieval English poetry as an embodiment of Christ by NATALIE JONES (London) and the highly decorative chessboard-plenarium of Otto the Mild by KRISZTINA ILKO (Cambridge), Shia Muharram banners as expressions of mourning or protest by ZEINAB VESSAL (Berkeley), and hidden numerological meanings in Ottoman culture by MUSTAFA ÖZAĞAC (Istanbul) and the Sufist Hurufi sect by SLOBODAN ILIC (Nicosia) contributed to a nuanced and insightful discussion of sacredness in religious texts beyond genres that are commonly considered sacred.

Holiness, however, is not only found in the written word but also in performance, liturgy and the traditions that develop around religious texts. In an insightful presentation on Zoroastrian manuscript culture, SHERVIN FARRIDNEJAD (Hamburg) showed that holiness in Zoroastrianism is not created by the act of writing, but by reciting religious texts from memory. Orality in relation to the Qur'an was the main theme of SAYED HASSAN AKHLAQ’s (Baltimore) contribution to the conference. The importance of the spoken word was also highlighted in JONATHAN ELUKIN's (Hartford) paper on medieval oath-taking. BOSCO BANGURA (Leuven) and DE-VALERA NYM BOTCHWAY (Cape Coast) explained how Pentecostal Christians and Muslims in Ghana relate to scripture as an embodiment of holiness to be consumed by the believer (metaphorically or literally) to become one with the spiritual messages of the Bible or the Quran.

While most contributors were concerned with the richness of one religious tradition and its notions of scripture and ritual writing traditions, some also presented the results of their comparative studies. For example, HANNA TERVANOTKO (Toronto) discussed the divinatory use of scripture in the ancient Jewish and Christian traditions. HEYDAR DAVOUDI (Evanston) analysed the image of the Ark of the Covenant in Jewish and Muslim traditions.

The sacred materiality of scripture is not exclusive to the scriptures themselves. In many religious traditions, their production as well as their makers must meet certain criteria and comply with various religious rules. HUSSIEN SOLIMAN (Alexandria/Cairo) and WALID GHALI (London) explored the traditions and instructions that Quranic scribes must follow and their required character traits, sparking insightful discussions that compared Islamic ritual writing rules with Jewish scribal traditions. JOANNA HOMRIGHAUSEN (Durham) added perspectives on the reed, a central writing tool in Jewish scribal tradition, to this conversation. FARNAZ MASOUMZADEH (Isfahan) presented her research on the sacred letterforms in early Islamic Quranic manuscripts, highlighting the hidden meanings of individual strokes and lines in Quranic manuscripts. THOMAS RAINER (Zurich) traced the use and depiction of purple script in Christian art and biblical manuscripts.

But once words deemed sacred have been written down, consecrated and used, what happens when, after many years, these sacred texts are worn out and cannot be repaired anymore? LEOR JACOBI (Ramat Gan) and NETTA SCHRAMM (Beer Sheba) discussed religious laws, customs and sensitivities regarding the disposal of Jewish ritual texts and sound recordings. While Leor Jacobi focused on medieval Spanish Jewish culture, Netta Schramm explored contemporary discussions and dilemmas facing laypeople and rabbis in dealing with Jewish texts and recordings that are in their possession and that they wish to dispose of.

The breadth and depth of the presentations were fascinating, enlightening and eye-opening. Despite the different religious traditions, time periods, media and cultures studied by each contributor, the conversations and insights gained from this interdisciplinary gathering of scholars from so many religions and cultures were, indeed, fruitful. They allowed participants to see their research in the wider context of religion, art history, intellectual history and cultural studies.

While the research project "Materialised Holiness" focuses exclusively on Jewish notions of scribal culture, Jewish scribal traditions, and Torah scrolls, it is no surprise that such an interdisciplinary conference has been part of the project’s plans from the beginning. Torah scrolls are unique and defining to Judaism in their production, use, lore, and history, as emphasised by DAVID STERN (Cambridge) in his keynote address "How to Make a Book Holy: The Case of the Jewish Tradition." However, Jewish scribal rules and narratives about writing in Jewish tradition did not develop in a vacuum. Rather, they were shaped inter alia by technological and economic developments. Moreover, they were influenced by the cultures in which the Jewish diaspora lived. The values, norms, traditions and beliefs of mainstream Christian or Muslim societies impacted Jewish traditions, too. Thus, despite all the theological and cultural differences, the meaning attributed to the act of writing and veneration of Jewish sacred texts has parallels in different religious traditions. Many rules and traditions about the painstaking manufacture, careful usage, respectful handling and dignified disposal of Torah scrolls can be linked, paralleled, and contrasted with those of other religious traditions. Therefore, comparatively studying Torah scrolls and other sacred writings can stimulate not only dialogue and mutual understanding but also new insights. It is precisely the interweaving of different cultures, the interdependence of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and other ritual professionals as well as lay people, that creates the rich, multifaceted practical, mystical, exegetical and philosophical traditions that imbue texts not only with religious meaning but with holiness.

The diverse and multifaceted research findings that were presented in the auditorium of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature were discussed not only in the panel sessions but also during breaks, dinners and walks through the city of Mainz, for example on the way to a guided tour of the church of St. Stephan, which is adorned with glass murals designed by the artist Marc Chagall. It emerged that an interdisciplinary investigation into sacredness and religious objects, most formerly books, offers many new avenues for research, exchange and dialogue and should be the subject of future research activities. On Wednesday evening, pianist Thomas Bächli added music to the conference’s diverse repertoire with a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach and John Cage.

After four days of constructive dialogue, it was time to say goodbye and express thanks: To the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz for hosting the conference, to the team at Freie Universität, both those who came to Mainz and those who worked in the background to make this conference possible and above all to the contributors, participants and moderators of this conference.

It is hoped that the conversations initiated by Creating Holiness will continue and that this meeting in Mainz will generate collaborations, partnerships and new ideas for further research topics and questions.

Conference overview:

Session 1:

Annett Martini (Berlin): Introduction

Bui Thi Thanh Mai (Hanoi): The Sacred Woodblock "Cư Trần Lạc Đạo" Poem: A Living Heritage of Vietnamese Truc Lam–Yen Tu Buddhism

Shervin Farridnejad (Hamburg): By heart or written down? The Materialization of the Sacred Language in the Zoroastrian Tradition and the Role of the Manuscripts

Session 2:

Hanna Tervanotko (Toronto): Divinatory Use of Scriptures in Jewish Antiquity

Jonathan Elukin (Hartford): From Relics to Gospel Books: Swearing Oaths and the Evolving Holiness of Texts in Christianity and Other Religious Traditions

Session 3:

Uta Lauer (Hamburg): Simply Magic – The Protective Powers of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra

Hussien Soliman (Alexandria/Cairo): The Scribe’s Ethics in Islamic Tradition

Session 4:

Rajendra Singh Thakur (New Delhi): How did Pali Mahabodhivamsa become a Symbol of Holiness in Sri Lanka?

Joanna Homrighausen (Durham): Penning Proverbs, Reeding Virtues: The Reed as a Symbol of Jewish Identity in Late Antique Jewish Texts

Keynote:

David Stern (Cambridge): How to Make a Book Holy: The Case of Jewish Tradition

Session 5:

Bosco Bangura (Leuven): ‘Eat this scroll, then go and speak’: African Pentecostalism and the Performative Re–enchantment of the Bible

De-Valera NYM Botchway (Cape Coast): Write, Wash and Drink: The "Holy" Script of Rubutu and Democratisation of the Production of Sacred Texts in Islam in Accra

Mohammad Hosain Foroughi (Teheran): The Holy Aspect in the Negel Quran

Session 6:

Clemena Antonova (Vienna): What Makes an Icon Holy? Insights from Pavel Florensky’s Theory of the Icon

Cornelia Soldat (Cologne): The Icon in the 17th century: The Access to Holiness in the Age of Modernity in Muscovite Rus

Session 7:

Natalie Jones (London): Christ’s Body as Book: John of Grimestone and the Middle English Lyric ‘An ABC of Christ’s Passion’

Thomas Rainer (Zurich): Purple Writing: The Depiction of Inks for Sacred Scripture in the Carolingian Gospels

Session 8:

Leor Jacobi (Ramat Gan): Levels of Sanctity: Manuscripts and their Disposal in Jewish Ritual Law and Custom

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq (Baltimore): Embodied Sacredness: The Oral Journey Within the Published Quran

Netta Schramm (Beer Sheba): The Holy Byte: Sacred Sounds and their Objects

Session 9:

Walid Ghali (London): Substance Ceases, but the Written Words Survive

Farnaz Masoumzadeh (Isfahan): The Sacredness of Writing and Letterforms in the Qur’anic Manuscripts of the Early Islamic Period of Iran in the Light of Cultural Graphology

Session 10:

Zeinab Vessal (Berkeley): Beyond Grief: Transformative Role of Sacred Inscriptions on Shiʿi Muharram Banners

Mustafa Özağaç (Istanbul): Dates Written with Abjad: Ciphers of the Sacred in Ottoman Literature and Calligraphy

Slobodan Ilić (Nicosia): A Secret Code for the Word of God: The Sacred Anatomy and Gematriatic Iconography of the Hurufi Sect

Session 11:

Heydar Davoudi (Evanston): Relics and Sakīnah: The Carriers of Sacredness Within the Ark of the Covenant

Krisztina Ilko (Cambridge): The Chessboard–Plenarium of Otto the Mild (1339)

Miguel Gallés Magri (Barcelona): Holy Mistakes: New Balkan 19th century Icon of Saint…