RELI 381 - The Bible as Book: Manuscript and Printed Editions

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as MEDS 381) The Bible has been one of the most influential texts in Western history. Yet there are great differences in what constituted “the Bible” and how it has been produced, disseminated, read, and discussed across the centuries and across cultures. Drawing from the perspective of the history of the book, this seminar provides an opportunity to examine and consider key moments in the production and transmission of biblical texts from Egypt, Asia Minor, and Palestine in Antiquity, to editions of the bible produced in Europe, England, and America, from the early middle ages to the present. Examples include Codex Sinaiticus, the Vienna Genesis, Codex Amiatinus, the Lorsch Gospels, the Winchester Bible, Bible Moralisée, the Biblia Pauperum, the Wycliffe Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, translations of Erasmus and Luther, the Geneva Bible, the King James Bible, the Eliot Indian Bible, the Woman’s Bible, bibles of fine presses, family bibles, childrens’ bibles, and recent translations. We discuss current scholarship relating to these and other editions, but our approach is largely empirical; by looking closely at books and considering all aspects of their makeup (such as scribal tendencies, binding and format, typography, illustrations, texts and translations, commentaries and paratexts), we try to gain an understanding of the social, economic, cultural and political factors behind the appearance of particular bibles, and also the nature of their influence in particular places. In order to “go to the source,” we rely heavily on examples from the Bible Collection in the Archives & Special Collections Library. Ms. Bucher and Mr. Patkus.

One 2-hour period.