[Extra postscript] Inclusive Practices: Faith History through Manuscript Studies and storytelling – A curation of video resources

I found myself collecting these videos, as something that I was interested in, alongside writing the faith blog. Manuscript studies is an adjacent profession to archives, there is some cross-over but it is not quite the same. However it does give the opportunity to consider ways to engage in the subject of faith in different ways, through texts. There is a chance that this might also be attempting too much ‘balance’ in my curation… but comparative textual studies is interesting, so that was my reason for it. There are still many gaps.

Identifying a Manuscript from West Africa

I love the collaborative approach to this video and it is very much like the experience of trying to understand what an archive or manuscript is about. Interpretation, as an experience of collaboration, sometimes in the moment, sometimes across time.

Islamic manuscripts from Southeast Asia in the British Library

I appreciated the Librarian’s sensitivity in describing these manuscripts. I also thought it helpful how she explained that texts in the British Library are categorised by language, not faith, so for someone interested in manuscripts relating to a particular faith, you would have to work across the existing categories. I also appreciated her close examination of the texts, showing influences from other faiths and change within a particular faith.

Guest Speaker Session: A Conversation with Calligrapher Gulnaz Mahboob May 23, 2021

I was moved by the sensitive way this calligrapher talked about her practice. Talking about the beauty of characters. The art and practice of writing encouraged as an act of faith. The process of training and practice as lived experience. Cultivating spirituality, connection to the sacred, and self-knowledge.

It was also a new piece of information to me, or if I had known, I had forgotten, that the Ottoman Empire restricted use of the printing press, which may have been influenced by, and continue to influence, the practice and art of calligraphy in Turkey.

Discovering Sacred Texts: Judaism

Text is here shared as a core part of Jewish identity. Reading, interpretation and storytelling as a way of practicing one’s faith, tradition, history.

Community Scholar Program: The Ultimate Modern Illuminated Haggadah

I enjoyed the quirkiness of this Haggadah, and the warm humorous nature of this conversation. The emphasis on making a tradition one’s own might speak to different religions too. Thinking about tradition, and continuity as well as change, is an interesting question in relation to faith. What it means to ‘stay true’ to a one’s faith and tradition does not mean that would always appear the same.

Traditional Care Practices for Ethiopic Manuscripts

The book as a living thing. Physical encounter with the object connecting you to history. Repairing and caring for a physical text. Care. All the senses, including smell, are engaged in working with it. The book as a body. The book with the body, to be carried.

The Lindisfarne Gospels: Medieval Multiculturalism | Collection in Focus | British Library

Cross fertilisation in traditions. Again, making one’s religious practices one’s own, by incorporating existing folk traditions.

Why knights fought snails in medieval art

A close reading of a particular motif saying something about the political prejudices of the manuscript writers at the time!

The Astonishing Book of Kells

Multiple influenece woven into a single text.

Thinking about alternatives to text: Oral Traditions for transmitting knowledge, history, belief, religious practice, faith

https://www.peeruk.org/swirl-of-words (page 188)

Why are these Indian Languages so Curvy?

How lettering itself tells a story

The shape of a page.

Acknowledging a decentralised aspect to common practices of Hinduism. And actually here, perhaps often the texts are supplementary to oral traditions.

Resurrection of Ancient Books Ep 5 Treasure of Tibet

Careful restoration, careful transcription… as a political act? On the other hand, is this propaganda for a ‘benevolent’ Chinese nation state, looking after a minority religion’s texts?