Most scholarly works on religious scriptures have paid attention to theirsemantic dimension, overlooking the iconic dimension which stands for the sacredstatus of the physical text and the performative dimension which is ritualized byperforming the text. However, most of adherents of pre-modern religions couldnot read or write scriptures, for they did not mind the text’s contents which playa critical role in the lives of many religious people. Rather than focusing on thesemantic meaning of the text, this article thus examines the iconic andperformative dimensions of scriptures by articulating how religious peoplerecognize, accept, and appropriate scriptures. Innumerable lay Buddhists haverecognized the sacred status of Buddhist sutras by possessing scriptures withoutreading or writing them. Bible reading rituals of Korean Protestantism havestimulated religious experiences not directly linked to the meaning of what is read.