David Davage

The three Abrahamic religions are often designated as religions of the book. But what does it mean to designate them as such when they all emerged in a time when books did not exist? It has been increasingly stressed by scholars of book history that the materiality of texts has great significance for their meaning. Various material cultures construct the relation between an author, a physical medium, and the content in different ways. Given such a historical contingency, this project aims to shed new light on the recurring questions raised within the field of biblical studies, questions related to dating, authorship, purpose, and canonization of texts. By focusing on the influence of the printing press on the modern understanding of the book as a libro unitario, and by providing close readings of paratexts in the books of Isaiah and Psalms, the project seeks to answer two fundamental questions: 1) In what ways has the notion of libro unitario shaped the scholarly discourse on compositional unity, authorship, textual transmission and canonization?; and 2) In what ways has the printing press played a part in shaping such a notion? Ultimately, the project will suggest ways past anachronisms and uncover better, and historically more plausible ways in which the relation between scrolls, their contents, and their producers were perceived in the Second Temple period, so that new light can be shed on these texts, texts that continue to have a significant impact on both society and politics.