H-220. The Materiality of Jewish and Christian Books - Advance Reading List

Open All
/
Close All

  • Suggested Readings

    We suggest reading the following passages from the Bible (in whatever edition/translation you like) and the attached essays prior to the course. If you want a general overview, we’d recommend Christopher de Hamel’s The Book: A History of the Bible, which is widely available both new and second-hand.

     

    From the Bible:

    Genesis 1-3: Name of God; Creation; Garden of Eden; Expulsion

    Genesis 22: Abraham and Isaac

    Exodus 10:1-17: Ten Commandments

    Deuteronomy 5:6-21: Ten Commandments

    Numbers 22: Baalam’s Ass

    Song of Songs: Plants and Metaphors

    Isaiah 1; 7:13 to 9:7; 40: Judaism and Christian Prophecy

    Matthew 1-2: Nativity, Prophecy, Typology

    Luke 1-2: Nativity, Prophecy, Typology

    Luke 4:17-21: Scroll and Codex

    Ezekiel 3:1-6 and Revelation 10:1-11: Eating the Book

     

    Book history essays: The following essays will be available on the course Google Drive.

     

    Stern, David. The Jewish Bible: A Material History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017. Chapters 1 and 2.

     

    Resnick, Irven M. “The Codex in Early Jewish and Christian Communities.” The Journal of Religious History 17, no. 1, 1992.

     

    Chartier, Roger, and Peter Stallybrass. “What Is a Book?” The Cambridge Companion to Textual Scholarship, edited by Neil Fraistat and Julia Flanders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013: 188–204.

     

    Peter Stallybrass, “Books and Scrolls: Navigating the Bible.” Books and Readers in Early Modern England, edited by Jennifer Anderson and Elizabeth Sauer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002: 42–79.

     

    Christopher de Hamel, The Book: A History of the Bible (skim)