Sensing sacred texts

By James W. Watts

Book Description

Sacred texts have always been more than words on a page. They engage our entire sensory experience in ways that transform how we connect with the divine and understand ourselves.

This illuminating exploration reveals how religious communities across cultures ritualize their most cherished writings through sight, touch, taste, and even kiss. Rather than focusing solely on reading and interpretation, James W. Watts examines the profound ways we physically interact with sacred books themselves. When scriptures are displayed ceremonially, touched for blessing, or symbolically consumed, they become powerful conduits for spiritual experience that transcend intellectual understanding.

Drawing from rich ethnographic studies spanning Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist traditions, as well as historical practices from ancient China, Korea, and Mediterranean cultures, this work uncovers universal patterns in how humans relate to holy texts. The author demonstrates how books, like people, possess both material bodies and seemingly immaterial essence, making them perfect vessels for incarnating religious values and beliefs.

Through comparative analysis and affect theory, these essays illuminate why sacred texts function as spiritual amulets, visual focal points, and embodied symbols of faith. For anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of how physical practices enhance spiritual connection, this scholarly yet accessible work offers fresh insights into the sensory dimensions of religious experience that often go unnoticed in our text-focused world.