How does writing become holy? This question lies at the centre of the research programme of Shaping Holiness. Rather than treating sacredness as an inherent property of texts, the Centre investigates the historical, material, ritual, aesthetic, and intellectual processes through which writing acquires religious authority and becomes a locus of divine presence, communal memory, and cultural identity. Holiness is understood not as a fixed quality but as the outcome of practices of making, interpretation, performance, and transmission through which religious communities continually create, sustain, and transform the sacred.
A particular focus of the Centre lies on how holiness is shaped through writing. The production of holy writings has rarely been regarded as a merely technical undertaking. Acts of inscription are often governed by ritual prescriptions, ethical obligations, aesthetic conventions, and theological reflection, transforming the work of scribes, calligraphers, artisans, and those who preserve and repair sacred writings into practices of religious significance.
To investigate these processes, Shaping Holiness brings together four complementary research perspectives.
Holiness is not inherent in writing; it is made through writing.
Shaping Holiness is currently being developed as an international and transdisciplinary research centre that brings scholars of different religious and cultural traditions into sustained conversation. At its heart will be an International Fellowship Programme, envisaged to begin in 2027, creating an intellectual space in which researchers at different career stages and from diverse disciplinary backgrounds can pursue their own projects while contributing to a shared field of enquiry.
Berlin offers an exceptional setting for this endeavour. In collaboration with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), and the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg, the Centre will connect historical and philological scholarship with manuscript and religious studies, conservation, materials science, and digital research. Fellows will thus be able to encounter holy writings not only through texts and traditions, but also through the objects themselves, their materials, their histories, and the scientific investigation of their making and preservation.
The first phase in the development of Shaping Holiness is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). This initial one-year period is dedicated to establishing the intellectual, organisational, and institutional foundations of the Centre, expanding its international network, and preparing its future Fellowship and research programmes.
Call for Papers for the conference: Who Makes Holy Writing?
Authority, Ritual, and Material Practice in Religious Scribal Cultures
Please submit an abstract of 300–500 words, together with a short academic biography (max. 150 words), to amartini@zedat.fu-berlin.de by 15. October.
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An open lecture on topics related to the materiality, rituality, aesthetics, and theology of religious writings.
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A workshop examining how holy texts are represented and interpreted through visual media across cultures and periods.
Read MoreFor inquiries or questions, feel free to reach out to us.
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