Blurb:

This chapter analyzes early Christian rituals in which the Bible functions as an icon, that is, as a material object that invokes the presence of the divine. It provides an introductory discussion of icons, and it further shows that early Christian communal rituals of Gospel procession and display as well as popular and private ritual uses of scripture as a miracle-working object parallel the uses and functions of Orthodox portrait icons while circumventing issues of idolatry.