Looking in Holy Books

This book collects together some of Vincent Gillespie's most influential and important articles from the last twenty-five years. In addition, the author offers a substantial introduction and commentary, which looks at changes in the field, as well as suggesting further reading and areas for future research. The first section 'What to Read' discusses lay access to devotional materials; the second, 'How to Read', looks at vernacular texts and the modes of reading those texts facilitate and encourage, while section three, 'Writing the Ineffable', considers mystical writing's affective and imaginative engagement with the ineffable.