Material Culture and The Iconic Bible
Johannes Krejberg Haahr
Editor and Concept Developer at 2K/DENMARK
The last couple of decades have seen an increased appreciation for the tangible, physical world. As we have moved toward more digital and virtually mediated lives, many have reached a point where the need for physical interaction with nature, other people and material objects has trumped the desire for the speed and convenience promised by the digitally mediated life. The once meteoric rise of the eBook has peaked as the demand for physical books experienced a resurgence in recent years.
This article investigates the importance and implications of the Bible – the Word of God – as a physical thing in the world. In our quest for a more profound understanding of the Bible, we must try to understand the material aspects of the Bible – we must learn to appreciate and critically think about the Bible as an icon and designed physical object.
Ideality and materiality
In popular culture the material world has been met with increasing interest. Similarly, in the academic world, and especially, it seems, in the study of religion, the scholarly focus has shifted or at least broadened from the world of ideas and “ideology” to the material expression of religion in rituals, performances and religious practice.
This shift, dubbed "the material turn", has affected the field of theology. In the local conservative Lutheran School of Theology here in Aarhus, two of the scholars have focused their scientific work on the material culture of the biblical world. One researches the role that blood played in the Old Testament rituals, and the other has shown how the many cleansing baths from the New Testament times found in many archaeological excavations in Galilee served a ritual function in the daily religious life.
The material turn has naturally occurred on the back of prior neglect – or at least a blindness to significance – partly under the influence of Protestant theology, with the priority that it has placed on the content of religion and Scripture at the cost of the form of religious practice and scriptural revelation.
“The ritual, material, visible, sensual side of Catholicism, expressed in liturgy, habit, images, pilgrimages, processions, the cult of the saints, and so on,” came to be seen by the reformers and their traditions as a “proof of the supposedly magical, idolatrous, polytheistic, and superstitious character” of The Roman Catholic Church (Bräunlein 2015). As Jeremy Biles put it in his entry on “The Bible and Material Culture” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception:
Protestants gave precedence to religious beliefs, ideas, and concepts drawn from the authoritative sources of religious traditions while neglecting the material dimension and popular expressions of religion. Scholarly work coming out of the “material turn” in religious studies over the past couple of decades has sought to redress this prejudice, rendering visible the matter of the sacred.” (Biles 2020)
The material turn
So let’s take a closer look at what we, who search to understand Christianity and the Bible in particular, could gain from the material turn and its appreciation of the fact that content and form cannot be wholly separated without diminishing or oversimplifying either aspect. A short review of some of the insights that different scholars have presented follows.
Sacred texts are partly defined based on their content, but they are also part of living traditions, and people use the texts within performative environments. We should recognise that in real life, the sacred and the secular are “scrambled”, to use a term employed by Colleen McDannell (1995). We should take care not to see a dichotomy between the two but rather a fruitful interaction. As Anne O’Connor puts it:
[M]aterial things themselves are constitutive and generative of religious reality, and are not derivative forms of evidence which the scholar must interpret in order to tell us something about more primary human meanings, subjectivity, or experience. (O’Connor 2021)
Christianity as a religion is a “communicative system” in so far as it is the sphere in which the presence, will, and power of God is communicated and experienced by believers. As a communicative system, it “needs an apparatus or carrier for the transmission of its ideas and tenets, with beliefs taking material form as they circulate through externally recognizable media” (ibid). So, when we study the Bible, we are engaging physically with
the materiality of the medium through which God’s Word, and thereby God, is made present to religious practitioners. It shows us that the concrete materiality of a medium matters. In spiritual questions, matter does matter. … Without the “multiple media for materializing the sacred,” it would be impossible “to make the invisible visible.” (Rakow 2020 with reference to Robert Orsi)
Biles (2020), once again, said it:
[T]he scripture is, for those practitioners who hold it as sacred, not only understood, but emotionally engaged and sensuously experienced. This corporeal-affective perspective does not deny the Bible’s sacrality, but accepts the full ambivalence of materiality.
Media theory tells us – succinctly through Marshall McLuhan’s often-repeated dictum: the medium is the message – that the medium through which a message is conveyed will invariably affect (if not downright dictate) how that same message is received, understood and used. This insight alone is more than reason enough for us to pay close attention to how the Bible appears to us as a physical object in the world.
The three dimensions of the Bible
The following section will draw most of its main points from “The Three Dimensions of Scriptures” (2008) written by James Watts, professor of religion at Syracuse University, whose framework will help us understand how the Bible as a medium is ritualised in interpretation, performance, and physical manipulation.
Watts identifies three dimensions of scripture (his work applies to other sacred scriptures, but I will in this context solely apply his thoughts to the Christian Bible): 1. the semantic dimension, 2. the performative (or expressive) dimension, and 3. the iconic dimension. Expository preaching, exegetical commentary and interpretation of the biblical texts engage with the semantic dimension of the Scripture. The public or communal reading, recitation, dramatisation, singing, praying of Bible texts (or paraphrase thereof) engages with the performative dimension of Scripture, while the third iconic dimension describes the material form, ritual manipulation and artistic representation of the Bible.
We clearly see that the semantic dimension of Scripture covers the aspects that have historically received most if not all scholarly attention – and it is also the interaction with the meaning of what is written that has been the main focus within the Church in general and Evangelical Protestantism in particular.
“The iconic Bible appeals in its material form to the senses of human bodies while at the same time communicating immaterial spiritual truths and a sense of divine presence.”
The performative and iconic dimensions, on the other hand, could collectively be described as the material culture of believers’ use of the Bible. Having established the assumption that things, their use, their valuation, and their appeal are not something added to Christianity but rather inextricable from it and that the iconic status of the Bible is “not only generated by the authority of the text and the discourse surrounding the text, but also by the Bible as an image and object employed in diverse practices that generate meaning and authority in other ways besides semantic interpretation” (Parmenter 2015) it is essential, that we are aware of the social, emotional, and theological effects of the material culture surrounding our use of and design of Bibles.
Ritualizing Scripture
All kinds of books can be analysed through Watts’ framework of the three dimensions. However, it is his point, that religious scriptures are ritualized in all three dimensions, by which interactions with the texts are given spiritual significance through formalised meaningful practices performed in either private or public/communal settings. Here are Watt’s examples of how the Bible is ritualized in the three dimensions.
Christians of all denominations continue to ritualize the Bible’s semantic dimension through preaching, teaching (in churches and universities), scholarship, and a vast enterprise of popular and academic publishing. They also invest heavily, however, in ritualizing the Bible’s performative dimension, most obviously in the ever-changing forms of Christian vocal music—much of it containing biblical texts as well as themes. … [D]ramatic performances of various kinds also feature prominently in contemporary Christian culture and frequently evoke public controversies over the interpretive authenticity of particular films (such as surrounded the release of The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988 and The Passion of the Christ in 2004). Despite Protestantism’s aniconic heritage that tends to obscure the iconic dimension from their awareness, evangelicals also ritualize the Bible’s iconicity in many ways. Worshippers carry bibles to church and often in secular settings as well. In their hands, they function as badges of Christian identity, a visual role enhanced by special book covers that distinguish the scripture from secular books. Ministers carry bibles as symbols of religious authority, especially in portraits. Gifts of bibles mark rites of passage such as baptisms, confirmations, and weddings. (Watts 2008)
Broadly speaking, according to Watts, the ritualising of Scripture serves to enhance the persuasive appeal of the Bible and its use in church and in private. Ritualising the semantic dimension provides authority to Scripture – calling attention to the Biblical message’s logical coherence. Ritualising the performative dimension serves to convey a sense of inspiration – speaks to the imagination of the believers. “Ritualising the iconic dimension serves the purposes of legitimation” – “… the display and manipulation of scriptures … legitimizes persons and institutions by ritually connecting them with a central symbol of the religious tradition.” (ibid)
The Rhetorics of Scripture
While somewhat vaguely applied here to the three dimensions of Scripture, the terms – persuasion, authority, inspiration, and legitimation – could point us towards another application, namely the ancient discipline of rhetoric, as these terms are all essential subjects of rhetorical theory. Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”, and he identified three main aspects that could have a positive or negative effect on the persuasiveness of the delivering of a message: the appeal to reason with logical arguments (logos), the appeal to emotional response with the use of hyperbole, metaphor, dramatising, etc. (pathos), and the appeal to credibility and integrity of the messenger by presenting a virtuous character and establishing the initial goodwill of the audience (ethos).
As the attentive reader might have already noticed, these three categories of rhetorical appeals fit remarkably well with the three dimensions of scripture.
Ritualizing the semantic dimension through detailed interpretation and commentary emphasizes the special importance of these words and their possible meanings. (ibid)
The reasonable and intelligent presentation of the content of the Bible will increase its authority and persuasiveness, thus enhancing its logos.
Ritualizing the performative dimension through recitations, dramatic enactments, and the like prompts feelings of inspiration in those who hear and see them, and often in the performers as well. (ibid)
The highly engaging and emotionally stimulating performance of the biblical content – be it in recitation, worship, prayer, etc. – will increase its inspirational power and persuasiveness, thus enhancing its pathos.
And lastly, regarding the iconic dimension, which is of particular interest in the context of Bible design and thus the context of this article:
Just as speakers portray themselves to an audience as trustworthy by their dress and behavior, ritualizing the iconic dimension of scriptures through their decoration, ritual manipulation, and display demonstrates visually their ethos as scripture. The expense of lavish decorations portrays the great worth of the books. The scriptures’ ritual display calls attention to them as objects to be respected and obeyed. Their ritual veneration presents them as material manifestations of divinity. All of these practices serve to legitimize the scriptures and, by derivation, those people connected in some way to them. Thus scriptures’ iconic status enhances their own ethos and by association grants legitimacy to those in contact with them. (ibid)
In an email exchange I had with Dr. William L. Krewson, professor at the School of Divinity, Cairn University, about this topic, he nicely summed up how the material design (even down to the design of the letterforms) could improve the rhetoric qualities of the Bible. He wrote:
A preacher enhances the power of the sacred printed words by using proper grammar in a sermon to facilitate the reception of oral words. In a similar way, a readable and attractive typeface enriches the visual reception of the words of Scripture. The human eye gazes at the sacred words to hear the voice of God. That message gains a subtle clarity and an unsuspecting beauty when obstacles to readability are removed. I would compare watching a movie on a television with 8K Ultra High Definition to watching the same movie with Standard Definition. The dialogue, music, and videography will be received through both formats. However, the Ultra High Definition can produce the details that enrich and subtly impact those who watch.
All of the above suggests that the material form of the Bible as a designed and (ritually) manipulated artefact – i.e., the iconicity of the Bible – plays an integral role in establishing and enhancing its legitimacy and persuasiveness as a sacred Word of God; as a vehicle or medium carrying His message into the material world. In this context it is might be good to clearly state that the Holy Spirit will always be able to speak God's message into the human heart in whatever form it takes. And that the opposite is also true: without the Spirit even the most persuasive form imaginable will fail to breath life into the Scriptures.
While the meaning of the words of Scripture and their performative expression in church and private indeed play their essential parts in the revelation of God’s presence, power, and will, it might be of surprise to the theologically educated (protestant) modern Christian, how much of a role the Bible as an icon and the material culture around this book has to play in the formation of belief, trust in, and veneration for the Word of God. In the final section of this article, we will therefore take a closer look at the iconicity of the Bible.
The main altar at Roskilde Domkirke, Denmark.
When the Bible is used for other purposes than to be read its iconicity reveals itself vividly. The function of the old and unwieldy Bible placed centrally at the alter is mainly for display, for symbolically communicating the presence of God's Word and in turn the presence of God. Whenever the Bible is read from the altar readers use the newer Bibles and lectionaries as seen on the left side.
The Iconic Bible as a thing-in-the-world
So, what do we mean when calling the Bible an iconic book? First, the Bible is immediately recognisable in its traditional black leather-bound book form – possibly adorned with a cross on the cover, gilded edges and a two-column layout and tiny print on thin paper. In this iconic form, the medium and the content become indistinguishable; when we see the form, we immediately recognise the content without reading a single word. The decreasing costs of Bibles and the increasing wealth of Bible buyers have given us a proliferation of Bibles, reinforcing its iconicity as one of the most recognisable Christian symbols in Western culture, probably only rivalled by the stylised cross symbol.
The iconicity of the Bible could also be described in parallel with the way Orthodox Christians use images of saints (i.e., “icons” ): “Both icons and scriptures are handled in rituals and displayed prominently, both receive veneration, both are believed to mediate divine presence” (Watts 2008).
Simply put, the iconic Bible appeals in its material form to the senses of human bodies while at the same time communicating immaterial spiritual truths and a sense of divine presence. God is present in His Words, and His Words are present with us, most readily available and intelligible in the form of the physical Bible.
Here I would like to point to my email exchange with Dr. Krewson again:
The first written words of God were those inscribed by God himself on two stone tablets: the Ten Commandments. God later instructed the Israelites to place them inside his royal throne, the ark of the covenant (Exo. 25:16). When Moses finished writing the Book of the Law, that written text was then placed beside the ark of the covenant (Deu. 31:26). This placement of the divine words reveals the intimate association of the written words of God and the presence of God. Paul calls written Scripture “God breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16), a further support of God’s connection with the written words. While God spoke orally to countless people throughout history, the inscripturated words create a permanent record of the divine communication echoing far beyond their original audience.
This quote points to two other aspects of the iconicity of the Scripture: firstly, that the Bible can be used for other purposes than reading, and secondly, the sense of permanence and completion that its book-form brings.
It is probably when the Bible is used for other purposes than to be read that its iconicity reveals itself most vividly. The most publicly exposed example of such would be the swearing-in ceremonies of most American presidents, who have taken the presidential oath of office on symbolic Bibles. The Bibles have been there to be touched as a part of the ritual but not to be read. There, in the presence of the people, but also of God – as communicated by the iconicity of the printed Bible – the truthfulness of the oath is accentuated and legitimised by the material presence of God’s Word.
Another example of Bibles being used for other than reading could be found in some healing rituals in Pentecostal churches, where a pastor would place a printed Bible on the head of an afflicted believer and declare healing in the name of the Lord, whose healing powers are believed to be mediated through the materiality of God’s Word.
Additionally, we would also, in many private homes, encounter Bibles intended more for display than for reading.
McDannell explains the growing Bible market by ideological changes that emphasized the importance of the Bible in the Christian household, transforming it into a precious object. In addition to being a source of religious instruction and moral guidance, the Bible became “a revered possession that activated sentiment and memory.” An appreciation for the Bible not just as text, but as an object, was the base on which the Bible as commodity could flourish. … The choice for and the display of a family Bible in the parlor of the home was thus also a performance of taste and social status. (Rakow 2020 in reference to McDannell 1995)
The iconicity of the Bible secures its performative power as a qualifier of status and identity. When 514.609 students participated in the Bring Your Bible to School Day in 2021, they both relied upon and strengthened the iconic power of the Bible.
This brings us to the second point mentioned above; the sense of permanence and completion that the book-form brings to the Bible. The fact that more than half a million students could bring a copy of what everyone would recognise as the Word of God in its permanent and complete form (translational differences aside) owes a great deal to the iconicity of the Bible in its printed form. In his classic exploration of the differences between oral and print culture, Walter Ong states that the printed book conveys “a sense of closure, a sense that what is found in a text has been finalized, has reached a state of completion” (Ong as cited by Rakow 2020). It was also print culture and its technological advances that allowed the entirety of the Scripture to be produced in a single volume that can be reproduced in an unlimited number of physically identical copies.
These aspects of the book as technology allow us to have a single object, the iconic Bible, containing – and therefore representing – God’s Word in its entire, final, completed form. And it allows us to trust that it will be the same Word identical to the next copy, which also secures its permanence as the sheer number of copies in the world render the physical extinction of God’s Word an absurd idea. Further advances in print technology have also introduced a diversity of publishing formats allowing for a wide variety of uses of the Bible, which only increases and intensifies its iconic status as the world’s most important and impactful book.
The material culture around the Bible has only been widened, diversified and ever more appreciated along with the realisation that we cannot so readily separate content from the form in which we get hold of it. For the Christian, this also means that the material world can indeed comprehend the spiritual. That God could become Man. That the Word could become flesh. That we can experience God, not only through our reading eyes or listening ears but also through the rest of our sensing bodies as we engage in the Creation, as we engage in the community, in worship and prayer – in their more or less ritualised forms – and as we engage with the iconic Bible. Not only by reading but also by manipulating, revering, and otherwise physically experiencing it as a material object containing immaterial truths.
As I sit here at my desk in 2K/DENMARK’s “library office”, where I am surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of printed copies of the Bible in a myriad of translations, I must confess that I find it hard not to celebrate this realisation. For a Bible design company like 2K, this only adds yet another dimension to our work, as we search for new ways to express the iconicity of the Bible.
On March 4, 1865, only 41 days before his assassination, President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time. The Bible is there to be touched as a part of the ritual but not to be read.
Lincoln’s second inaugural address previewed his plans for healing a once-divided nation: "With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Litterature
Biles, Jeremy (2020): The Bible and Material Culture in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol 18 (Walter de Gruyter)
Bräunlein, Peter J. (2015): Thinking Religion Through Things in Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 1-35 (Brill)
McDannell, Colleen (1995): Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America (Yale University Press)
O’Connor, Anne (2021): Translation and religion: Issues of materiality in Translation Studies 14:3 (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group)
Parmenter, Dorina Miller (2015): Iconic Books from Below: The Christian Bible and the Discourse of Duct Tape in Iconic Books and Texts (Equinox Publishing)
Rakow, Katja (2020): The Material Dimension of the Bible from Print to Digital Text in The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and American Popular Culture (Oxford University Press, 2020)
Watts, James W. (2008): The Three Dimensions of Scriptures in Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds 2/2-3