Peccata Lectionis

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2026) | Viewed by 10353

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Department of Hungarian Language and Literature, Eötvös Loránd University, 1126 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: theory of classical and modern rhetorics; comparative literary and cultural studies; constructive theology; catholic theology; interarts studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sins of reading (peccata lectionis), if they exist, certainly connect the traditions of the Judeo-Christian religions with what we know as secularized, professional literary reading evolved in part out of the hermeneutics of the Sacred Scriptures of these religions, and later, in the 20th century, as professional reading in cultural studies. This Special Issue of the journal Religions explores whether the sins of reading really exist and if so, how the essence of their transgression can be expressed. The existence of the sins of reading is a hypothesis that neither Judeo-Christian religious studies and theology nor literary and cultural studies can exhaustively confirm or refute by themselves. In response to this call, therefore, we invite interdisciplinary studies, which can be drawn from any of the above-mentioned disciplines, so long as they enrich the transgressive history of or theoretical approach to reading. This interdisciplinary approach also intends to encourage professionals in theology and religious studies to interact with the community of literary critics and scholars of religion. Over the last forty years, the latter occasionally have considered fiction and its professional reading as something for which religious phenomenology can provide an adequate interpretative framework (Prickett 1986, Kaufmann 2007, Barnes 2024). Reflecting on the sins of reading, by examining the phenomenon of reading, this Special Issue not only aims to pave the way for the reconsideration of the presumptions of religious hermeneutics, but also for all thinking that is the result of professional interpretation in literary and cultural studies and that support this interpretation even today.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • The act of reading as sin—the analysis of motifs in world literature.
  • Theoretical sins I: how can the generalization inherent in the possible readings of literary theories and schools blind us to individual phenomena?
  • Theoretical sins II: the inherent theoretical flaws of Judeo-Christian hermeneutics.
  • Readings of transgression in culture.
  • Taboos of reading aloud and silent reading–from the taboo of reading out loud the Name (השמ) to ritual reading, from ancient times to the present.
  • Transliteracy, translation, and philological errors as sins—the denial of authenticity, counterfeiting, and other criteria.
  • The history of heresy as a history of reading.
  • The religious character of the opposition between literary and cultural theories.
  • The sin of neglecting reading—case studies and theoretical assumptions about the negative consequences of failing to read.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, Dr. Marton Hoványi (marton.hovanyi@tok.elte.hu), and CC the Assistant Editor, Margaret Liu (margaret.liu@mdpi.com), of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

A tentative timeline:

Deadline for abstract submission: 06/30/2025

Deadline for full manuscript submission: 09/30/2025

References:

Barnes, Ashley. 2024. Houdini versus the Medium: Talking to the Dead and the Origin of American Literary Studies. New Literary Studies 55 no. 2, pp. 293-316.

Felch, Susan M. 2016. The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Literature. CUP.

Kaufmann, Michael. The Religious and the Secular, and Literary Studies: Rethinking the Secularization Narrative in Histories of the Profession. New Literary History 38 no. 4 (2007), pp. 607-28.

Prickett, Stephen. 1986. Words and the Word. Language, Poetics, and Biblical Interpretation. CUP.

Dr. Marton Hovanyi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • theory of reading
  • history of reading
  • interdisciplinarity
  • sin
  • Judaism
  • Christianity
  • literary and cultural criticism
  • biblical hermeneutics
  • constructive theology

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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19 pages, 343 KB  
Article
The Sins of Reading a Painting, or the False Ekphrasis of Holbein’s Painting The Dead Christ in the Tomb in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot
by Géza S. Horváth
Religions 2026, 17(4), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17040503 - 21 Apr 2026
Viewed by 509
Abstract
One of the most famous and frequently analysed descriptions in literary and art history is undoubtedly Dostoevsky’s ekphrasis of Holbein’s painting The Dead Christ in the Tomb in his novel The Idiot (Part III. Chapter 6). The painting itself sparked a series of [...] Read more.
One of the most famous and frequently analysed descriptions in literary and art history is undoubtedly Dostoevsky’s ekphrasis of Holbein’s painting The Dead Christ in the Tomb in his novel The Idiot (Part III. Chapter 6). The painting itself sparked a series of theological and aesthetic controversies with its unusual, non-canonical iconography depicting of the Passion of Christ. Most art historical analyses do not ignore the ekphrasis of that picture in The Idiot. In this study, we proceed from the premise that the “reading of the painting” leads to different results from the point of view of three main characters of the novel: Rogozhin, Myshkin, and Ippolit. Our goal is to prove that ekphrasis is an inseparable part of a speech act—not an objective description, but intentional speech. Therefore, it cannot be interpreted without understanding the speaker’s intention or the character’s situation. This explains the strong distortions and misreading in the ekphrasis. We can capture the meaning reconstructed in the character’s speech through the motifs of copy, epigonism, duplication and misquotation. Ippolit, the subiectum of ekphrasis, proves to be a truly “bad reader,” and his reading becomes devastating in the world of the novel insofar as it anticipates the destruction expressed in the motifs of the Apocalypse. In addition, we also reveal that there is a hidden intention behind Ippolit’s reading, which we can grasp by examining the signs in the text (metaphorical meaning). The most important motifs of ekphrasis (e.g., nature, the number six, actuality, darkness–light) weave through the entire text of the novel and are incorporated into the process of text production and meaning creation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
17 pages, 252 KB  
Article
Hermeneutic Negativism
by Csaba Olay
Religions 2026, 17(3), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17030282 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 440
Abstract
In this paper, I propose “hermeneutic negativism” as the methodology that begins from the idea that a positive account of understanding and interpretation can depart from their negative manifestations. By critically analyzing interpretive malfunctions, one can arrive at a more accurate and substantive [...] Read more.
In this paper, I propose “hermeneutic negativism” as the methodology that begins from the idea that a positive account of understanding and interpretation can depart from their negative manifestations. By critically analyzing interpretive malfunctions, one can arrive at a more accurate and substantive picture of what understanding entails. The core idea of negativism, then, is that in certain cases, positive description presupposes insights drawn from breakdowns or failures. The paper offers an overview of major hermeneutic positions in light of methodological negativism. A key strength of this approach lies in its phenomenological character: rather than constructing models based on preconceived notions or unexplained assumptions, the description derives its plausibility from the critique of the negative. As ideal-typical poles of this contrast, I examine the hermeneutics of Friedrich Schleiermacher and Hans-Georg Gadamer, respectively. It can be shown that, in the former, misunderstanding is taken for granted and understanding requires explanation, whereas, in the latter, misunderstanding is derived from failures of understanding. I argue that Gadamer’s hermeneutics aligns more closely with hermeneutic negativism. Furthermore, I defend the claim that understanding can only proceed through the ongoing attempt to avoid misunderstanding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
21 pages, 277 KB  
Article
The Original Sin of Writing and Reading
by Kristián Benyovszky
Religions 2026, 17(2), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17020266 - 21 Feb 2026
Viewed by 452
Abstract
This study examines the possible points of connection between crime and reading on the basis of genre-typical roles and motifs in detective fiction. I aim to identify characteristic reading methods, strategies, locations, events, and professions with regard to the detective, the perpetrator and [...] Read more.
This study examines the possible points of connection between crime and reading on the basis of genre-typical roles and motifs in detective fiction. I aim to identify characteristic reading methods, strategies, locations, events, and professions with regard to the detective, the perpetrator and the victim. Following a general introduction with a focus on genre theory and thematic concerns, I proceed with an analysis of P. D. James’s crime novel Original Sin. This novel not only offers the posing and solving of a criminal puzzle, but also reflects powerfully on moral questions about sin, original sin and violent death. In my analysis, I follow the method of close reading, and as part of this approach, I also explore traces of biblical intertextuality. As a result of theoretical reflection and interpretation, I draw two important conclusions: (1) For investigators, reading texts constitutes an effective and indispensable instrument for reconstructing the past, thus uncovering the truth and revealing the perpetrator. (2) The reading events depicted in the novel refer to experiences and conceptual connections that justify discussing a kind of theology of reading: reading appears in the story as an intellectual activity that forms part of certain religious practices (penance, prayer, confession). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
17 pages, 302 KB  
Article
“Lest Mysteries of Such Greatness Come to the Greeks”—Divine Revelation and Distorted Teachings in Hermetica
by Endre Ádám Hamvas
Religions 2026, 17(2), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17020197 - 6 Feb 2026
Viewed by 751
Abstract
Interpretations of the circumstances that formed the development of the Hermetic texts are still to be debated. However, these difficulties are not only philological in nature but also address the revelatory quality of the texts. The author of the sixteenth dialogue of the [...] Read more.
Interpretations of the circumstances that formed the development of the Hermetic texts are still to be debated. However, these difficulties are not only philological in nature but also address the revelatory quality of the texts. The author of the sixteenth dialogue of the Corpus Hermeticum (CH) diminishes his work by claiming that the teachings contained in the treatise would actually only be understood properly if it were in the Egyptian language, not in its current form, Greek, because the Greek language is not able to reveal the truth conveyed by the divine power of the Egyptian language, but is only useful for logical debates and joking. The role of the written word, as well as its connection to oral initiation in Hermetism, is examined first in this paper. Second, we look at how the book and Egyptian writing mediating the teachings is portrayed as a sacred item in Hermetic initiation texts, as well as its importance in the initiation process. Finally, we examine the peculiar claim of the author of the sixteenth treatise of Corpus Hermeticum that, despite all this, it is possible to misuse Hermetic texts if they are translated, specifically, into the Greek language in which we can read most of them today. In studying CH XVI, I propose that Hermetic authors try to retain the famous character of the works by highlighting their Egyptian origin. They claim that Hermetic teachings can only lead to initiation in their original form but if they are translated into any language, they lose their divine power. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
15 pages, 366 KB  
Article
Peccata Lectionis—Understanding and Misunderstanding Scripture in Aphrahat the Persian Sage’s Demonstrations (4th Century)
by Miklós Vassányi
Religions 2026, 17(2), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17020161 - 29 Jan 2026
Viewed by 541
Abstract
In this paper, I focus on a major corpus of the earliest Syrian Christian literature, Aphrahat the Persian Sage’s collection of epistles titled Demonstrations (Taḥwyātā; early 4th century), in order to gauge his thoughts on the “sins of reading”, peccata lectionis. [...] Read more.
In this paper, I focus on a major corpus of the earliest Syrian Christian literature, Aphrahat the Persian Sage’s collection of epistles titled Demonstrations (Taḥwyātā; early 4th century), in order to gauge his thoughts on the “sins of reading”, peccata lectionis. First, I present the Aphrahatic corpus as it currently is and has been perceived over time in its Western and Eastern reception history. Then, I briefly consider what importance early Greek and Syriac monastic sources—like the Vita Antonii, the Pseudo-Macarian Homilies, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Palladius’ Historia Lausiaca, the Ktābā dmasqātā (the Syriac Book of Steps), etc.—attributed to the reading of scripture as a regular part of a monk’s daily practice. It is against this historical backdrop that Aphrahat’s stance on reading scripture can be meaningfully interpreted. Finally, I present and analyze what the earliest-known orthodox Syrian church father, Aphrahat himself, has to say about the reading of scripture and its concurrent threat, the peccatum lectionis. As the Persian Sage was an excellent Biblical scholar, he made abundant references to religious reading practices in his Demonstrations. To his mind, the locus where sin may enter the meditative reading of early Syrian versions of the Bible is the interpretation of the text: misunderstanding it may lead to sin and potentially damnation. However, the wise person should be able to evade this danger, supported by the natural piety and cosmic religion inspired in them by the majesty of creation, which is a true reflection of divine infinity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
12 pages, 245 KB  
Article
Catholic Idiom and the Dialectic of Reading: A Meditation on Joris-Karl Huysmans’s Novel À rebours
by Gábor L. Ambrus
Religions 2026, 17(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17010040 - 30 Dec 2025
Viewed by 434
Abstract
Huysmans’s novel À rebours can be seen as an epitome of the dialectic implied by the term peccata lectionis: reading can only come into its own through certain ‘sins’ inherent to it while possibly compromising it. Such ‘sins’ are involved in the decision [...] Read more.
Huysmans’s novel À rebours can be seen as an epitome of the dialectic implied by the term peccata lectionis: reading can only come into its own through certain ‘sins’ inherent to it while possibly compromising it. Such ‘sins’ are involved in the decision of the novel’s single protagonist and anti-hero, Des Esseintes, to withdraw into the solitude of his country house to live a life dedicated to aesthetic and intellectual pleasure. While celebrating his own eccentric fancies and artificiality of taste, the protagonist’s days of decadence, in their very antagonism towards both society and nature, are spent pursuing what can be called ‘reading of culture’. As ‘the reading of culture’ and its dialectics in the novel extend to and draw upon a wealth of references to the Catholic cultural tradition, the latter leads to a textual logic and a particular kind of lectio. It is in keeping with the novel being widely regarded as a harbinger of the ‘Catholic turn’ in its author’s career, Des Esseintes, at one point of the narrative, comes to explore the so-called ‘Catholic idiom’. Whereas his critique is aimed at 19th century Catholic writers in France and their indebtedness to the definitive rhetoric of the French Grand Siècle, the ‘Catholic idiom’, its particular textuality and the ‘reading of culture’ that is manifest in it may lie elsewhere in Huysmans’s novel itself. These likely reside in the textual logic of catalogues or ‘compendia’, that is, the listing of names within a category, which evokes mediaeval textual practices. The catalogue or ‘compendium’ as a genre within Huysmans’s novel fulfils the artificiality and vigour of the protagonist’s ‘reading of culture’—and the whole dialectic of the peccata lectionis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
21 pages, 256 KB  
Article
Narrative Parallelism and Interpretive Narrative
by Gábor Kovács
Religions 2025, 16(12), 1550; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121550 - 9 Dec 2025
Viewed by 739
Abstract
The primary goal of my paper is to elaborate a methodology for literary interpretation that points out how a literary narrative prose text interprets its own characters, plots, and existential problems. In this context, one of the main premises of my remarks is [...] Read more.
The primary goal of my paper is to elaborate a methodology for literary interpretation that points out how a literary narrative prose text interprets its own characters, plots, and existential problems. In this context, one of the main premises of my remarks is that interpretation, is not the privilege of the act of reading. Misreading, or the “sins” of ideological interpretation can only be avoided if it is recognized that reading and interpretation are problems of the text itself. Beyond the formalist, structuralist, and poststructuralist methodologies of literary analysis, I found in Paul Ricœur’s Biblical hermeneutics the interpretive process and conceptual system that are able to reveal the self-interpretive functions of literary narrative works. According to him, there is a special type of text: the interpretive narrative. The interpretive narrative as a special genre designation refers to the Gospels’ narrative presentation of the passion. In a nutshell: the essence of interpretive narrative is that there is a text interpreting process, which is achieved by the narrative discourse itself (“before” any act of reading). In accordance with the results of Biblical hermeneutics but focusing on literary interpretation, I would like to elaborate on the notion of narrative parallelism in order to reveal those poetic conditions of literary narrative by which misreading or the “sins” of ideological reading can be eliminated. Narrative parallelism is a special type of metaphorical process in which a personal story is interpreted by the story of an object. Literary narrative prose has a specific and unique “virtue” compared to other literary genres or non-literary narratives: using descriptive discourse prose language recognizes, reveals, and narrativizes the significance of details. The second premise of my remarks is that the seemingly secondary narrativized details, or the seemingly insignificant stories of the objects, serve as the interpretation of the literary narrative’s central aspects, namely characters, plots, and existential problems. The interpretation of the presentation of the main character’s story is prefigured in a semantic way by the text itself. I would like to explore the main processes of narrative parallelism as an interpretive narrative by the explanation of a short story’s (A. Moravia: Friendship) twofold emplotment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
16 pages, 286 KB  
Article
Yet Before the Sins of Reading Could Be Committed Strategies of Avoidance from South Asia
by Péter Száler
Religions 2025, 16(12), 1482; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121482 - 23 Nov 2025
Viewed by 731
Abstract
Although similar, the terms ‘sacred text’ and ‘sacred scripture’ are not interchangeable. In my view, ‘sacred scriptures’ are physical materials that embody the transcendental words recognised as ‘sacred text’ in tangible form. Since the Abrahamic religions hold their scriptures in such high regard, [...] Read more.
Although similar, the terms ‘sacred text’ and ‘sacred scripture’ are not interchangeable. In my view, ‘sacred scriptures’ are physical materials that embody the transcendental words recognised as ‘sacred text’ in tangible form. Since the Abrahamic religions hold their scriptures in such high regard, the distinction between ‘sacred text’ and ‘sacred scripture’ becomes blurred within these traditions. By contrast, Indian religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism seem to be more careful to maintain this distinction, as they attribute greater prestige to orality. Even when their sacred texts were written down, their main function was not usually to establish a connection between the author and the reader, i.e., to be read, but rather to be worshipped as relics. This article aims to introduce the Indian textual tradition as a possible counterpoint to the Judaeo-Christian approach. It provides a general overview of oral and manuscript culture in Indian religions and examines whether the high reverence attributed to the oral transmission, the lower prestige of the writing, and the worship of manuscripts can be understood as strategies to avoid those discrepancies, which are known as the ‘sins of reading’ (‘peccata lectionis’) in Western civilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
14 pages, 345 KB  
Article
Peccata Lectionis: Gender, Sexuality and Cultural Memory in a Deconstructive Reading of the Targum to Song of Songs
by Kornélia Koltai
Religions 2025, 16(12), 1477; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16121477 - 21 Nov 2025
Viewed by 918
Abstract
This study examines the deconstruction of the Targum to Song of Songs, focusing on how binary oppositions and traditional interpretive frameworks are both challenged and reconfigured. While the targumists aim to prevent a potentially ‘sinful reading’ of the text, their interventions paradoxically recreate [...] Read more.
This study examines the deconstruction of the Targum to Song of Songs, focusing on how binary oppositions and traditional interpretive frameworks are both challenged and reconfigured. While the targumists aim to prevent a potentially ‘sinful reading’ of the text, their interventions paradoxically recreate the possibility of a reading that could be considered ‘sinful’. They break down the boundaries between the spiritual and the physical, and question the identity, number, and gender of the participants in the love relationship. In the Targum, the classical narrative structure is also deconstructed. Chronology and causality yield to traditional memory and consciousness, producing a repetitive, fragmented, mosaic-like pattern unlike conventional narratives. Moreover, a semantic layer already shaped by context and in dialogue with the meaning of the textual antecedent enters the interpretive horizon of tradition, reinforcing the prominence of ambiguity—similarly to the base poetic text. The targumic deconstruction illuminates the relativity of concepts and meanings and highlights the flexible interpretive possibilities inherent in tradition. It not only liberates the conceptions within the text but also frees the reader from constraints imposed by binary hierarchies of value. The conceptual liberation leads to the realization that God and the relationship with God cannot be approached or described in earthly terms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
23 pages, 389 KB  
Article
The Afterlife of Petrarch’s Liber sine nomine in Catholic and Protestant Contexts: The Case of Bernhard von Kraiburg’s Epistle on the Fall of Constantinople (1453)
by Péter Ertl
Religions 2025, 16(10), 1318; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16101318 - 17 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1850 | Correction
Abstract
Petrarch’s Liber sine nomine is a collection of satirical letters against the Avignon Curia, remarkable for its stylistic refinement. It offered later readers multiple possibilities of interpretation and reuse, serving both as a rhetorical model and as a resource for anti-papal argumentation. While [...] Read more.
Petrarch’s Liber sine nomine is a collection of satirical letters against the Avignon Curia, remarkable for its stylistic refinement. It offered later readers multiple possibilities of interpretation and reuse, serving both as a rhetorical model and as a resource for anti-papal argumentation. While literary application predominated in the fifteenth century, the collection was later repurposed in religious debates between Protestants and Catholics. This paper examines a little-known episode in its afterlife, namely the epistle on the fall of Constantinople in 1453 by Bernhard von Kraiburg, chancellor of the Archbishop of Salzburg and later Bishop of Chiemsee. Close philological analysis shows that Bernhard adapted extensive passages from the Liber sine nomine and, along with a few other authors, established a distinct line of reception by reinterpreting selected letters as prayers. In the second half of the seventeenth century, however, Bernhard’s work met an analogous fate to that of its model. It was read and reframed from a Lutheran perspective by Johann Konrad Dieterich, professor of Greek and history at the University of Gießen, and was subsequently subjected to indirect censorship in the Index librorum prohibitorum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)

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1 pages, 129 KB  
Correction
Correction: Ertl (2025). The Afterlife of Petrarch’s Liber sine nomine in Catholic and Protestant Contexts: The Case of Bernhard von Kraiburg’s Epistle on the Fall of Constantinople (1453). Religions 16: 1318
by Péter Ertl
Religions 2026, 17(3), 299; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17030299 - 28 Feb 2026
Viewed by 221
Abstract
In the original publication (Ertl 2025), (Ertl 2025) was not cited [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peccata Lectionis)
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