Page - 9 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

Editorial | 9www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 7–12 that text: manuscripts, printed books, graphics, embroideries, tattoos, sheet music, and electronic codes are all forms of writing, of fixing a text into a material medium.6 The materiality of writing is always linked to the immateriality of commu- nication, and thus the material medium retains the double quality of being a thing and a stored communication. Within religious traditions, this double quality of writing is evidently a crucial aspect when we recognise that sacred books are media by means of which divine revelation is made available in our world. Materiality alone can link the very idea of the communication of tran- scendence to the human life and world. This idea is represented in different forms in different religions, yet functions as a common motif – for example the Tora and the prophets of Israel, the Qur’an, and the incarnated Logos in Jesus of Nazareth all enfold the concept that materialization of divine revela- tion is a prerequisite for being perceived by mankind. Focusing on particular media and their quality as storage for a text raises the question of how a par- ticular form of materiality influences the communication process that is ac- tivated by encoding the fixed code. This issue is discussed in the contribution by Erich Renhart, “Materiality of Religious Books. A Brief Sketch of Sometimes Disregarded Aspects of Book Culture”. Renhart notes with reference to the Second Vatican Council7 that multiple aspects precondition the fabrication of religious books and manuscripts, in particular their perception as works of art in their material quality, in calligraphy and illustration. This quality has to refer to the content of the respective holy or venerable book. Mark K. George’s approach to the topic of this issue concentrates on the cultural, political, and religious effects of materiality. In “Writing, Affordances, and Governable Subjects”, George discusses the role of the technology of writ- ing in the book of Deuteronomy, looking at the impact of writing in construct- ing and normalising a concept of Israel, of people, and of governability. The materiality of writing shapes and is shaped by spatial practices. Two contributions explore the entanglement of the materiality of texts and place. In “Born under a Lucky Star. Interpretations of Woodcuts of Pseudo-astrologi- cal Birth Amulets from German-Jewish Printing Houses in the 18th Century”, Alisha Meininghaus presents and discusses astrological illustrated printings that on the one hand allude to the relationship between the cosmos and life on earth and on the other hand serve to protect the places occupied by the 6 Assmann 2007, 130. 7 Constitution 1963, 122.