Books in heaven: dreams, texts and conspicuous circulation

Abstract

This paper examines the phenomenon of miraculous literacy in which the ability to read and write is conferred through divine revelation. In such revelations, it is clear that texts circulate between heaven and earth. This paper considers examples of miraculous literacy drawn both from African Christianity and the Protestant evangelical world more generally. It demonstrates that a magical idea of textuality in which religious texts are
circulated unaided by human agency is common across many different spheres and forms a central strand in popular Christian thinking. The paper concludes by examining the broader significance of such circulation and probes the kind of imagined community that is being brought into being through such textual circuits.