Textual Media, Materialities, and Textual Practices

The paper introduces the concept of ‘practicing texts’ to broaden the notion of sacred texts beyond the written medium. ‘Practicing texts’ is a practice-centered approach to religious texts and textual media, considering the materiality of texts and the embodied engagement with them in religious practices. I refer to the nexus of texts and the entire spectrum of text-related practices as ‘practicing texts.’ This concept embraces a broad definition of text, including oral, performed, written, printed, or displayed forms. The range encompasses not only authoritative texts but also popular works and media formats conveying religious discourses. Each medium has specific affordances and mediates text in a unique manner. Therefore, I argue that studying textual media should ideally happen in connection with the practices they are embedded in, considering their material dimensions. Thus, ‘practicing texts’ unites three key elements: texts, practitioners engaging with religious texts (‘users’), and practices related to texts.