Page - 8 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

8 | Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati and Christian Wessely www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 7–20 considered the core of a religious tradition. Sometimes this approach to holy scriptures has even been completely – and uncritically – identified with the religious system as a whole. Research on theological and comparative ap- proaches to religions has long been biased towards the concept of the text, including text production and text reception, yet this perspective has proved insufficient, not only in light of the findings of historical-critical exegesis but also as a result of the constraints of our respective languages, which have demonstrated considerable limitations in expressing the individual religious experience. Under the influence of cultural studies approaches, the field of religious studies has broadened its epistemological horizon and reconsidered previous- ly neglected dimensions of religious communities and traditions. Moreover, it has encouraged the reshaping of concepts like “sources” and “languages” – in the plural – “symbol” and “communication”, “space” and “time”, “body”, “memory”, and “tradition”, which have proved key points in the debate.4 This issue of the Journal for Religion, Film and Media stands at the crossroads of approaches to religion and offers a speculative exploration of texts that considers both procedures and results in researching material religion.5 Two questions inspire this collection of articles: How does the materiality of a text influence meaning-making processes? How does its materiality impact the multi-layered communication processes in which a text is involved during its long-term transmission? In addressing these issues, we benefit from the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary character of religious studies that char- acterises this journal. Fundamental and systematic theology, biblical studies, and the study of religion have developed common methodological procedures to address the materiality of texts, and although they each have particular foci and explore particular facets, they are part of a mutual exchange. This introductory note highlights a number of essential topics that arise from a cross-reading of this collection of essays. According to Jan Assmann, a text can be described as the practice of recording a message. A text is storage for a communication that is wrested from its particular context in time and space and thus made available for potentially infinite re-enactments in new con- texts. Addressing the material side of a text, understood in light of its storing and re-enacting of messages, we look at the particular codes used to secure 4 e. g. Plate 2015. 5 Hilgert 2016; Pöttler 2015; Ortlieb 2018; Ritter-Schmalz/Schwitter 2019.