Iconic Books and Texts - Sacred texts (HRLC) - James W. Watts
1. The Three Dimensions of Scriptures
Iconic Books and Texts - Sacred texts (HRLC) - James W. Watts
James W. Watts [+]
Syracuse University
James W. Watts is Professor of Religion at Syracuse University and the author of Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Description
This chapter proposes a new model for understanding the ways that scriptures function. It theorizes the nature of scriptures as a function of their ritualization in three dimensions—semantic, performative, and iconic. It also provides a means for conceptualizing how traditions ritualize scriptures and how they claim and negotiate social power through this process.