Page - 95 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

“As i cannot write I put this down simply and freely” | 95www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 95–122 Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati “As i cannot write I put this down simply and freely” Samplers as a Religious Material Practice Abstract Samplers are important sources for exploring the interaction between religion, text, and materiality. For centuries, needlework has been a textile-based skill taught to girls as a possible way to earn an income. By means of stitches and threads, young wom- en learned basic knowledge, patience, and moral judgement. This article explores a unique sampler from southern England in the middle of the 19th century. The author, a young girl called Elizabeth Parker, transformed the practice of embroidering a sampler by stitching a text that challenged social and religious conventions. The document offers deep insight into the life, knowledge and religious belief of a working-class girl who could not ‘write’ but could articulate herself through an ancient textile technique. Keywords Sampler, Religion and Textile, Materiality, Education, Gender, Materiality of Text, Study of Religion Biography Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati is professor of the study of religion and the history of religion at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. The interaction between religion and media as well as the role of religion in the public sphere are her principal research in- terests. She also works on space-critical and gender-critical approaches to religion and on methods and theories in the study of religion, with a focus on European traditions. Introduction This exploration of the materiality of texts and the performance of writing within religious traditions focuses on a striking connection between text and textile. Artefacts made with letters and with threads are defined with terms that derive from the same Latin verb, textus, a past participle of texo, DOI: 10.25364/05.7:2021.1.6