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V. Christianity

1. General Remarks and Terminology. TheGreek word �ι�λ��ν is a diminutive of ���λ�ς, whichdesignates the material on which texts are written(papyrus) and hence the written text as well, in thesense of an autonomous literary unit. Accordingly,each biblical book was a physically separate unit:

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Jesus receives the book of Isaiah in the synagogue(Luke 4 : 17, a scroll he “unrolls,” see also v. 20), theEvangelist John calls his own work a �ι�λ��ν (John20 : 30). With the development of the codex in thefirst centuries CE of the Christian era, however,books could be produced with greater capacity (es-pecially when parchment was used), and the term“book” then served mostly to designate a subdivi-sion of a larger literary unit. (There is no reasonto surmise that the single books of, e.g., Eusebius’Ecclesiastical History ever existed as physically sepa-rate units.) The collective plural τα �ι�λ�α referredto the ensemble of biblical books, hence the Latinbiblia (first pl., later fem. sg.), similarly in mostmodern languages, where the original plural doesnot emerge any longer. However, a semantic differ-ence remains between the Greek/Latin word “Bible”(the “book of books”) and the vernacular “book” ingeneral. This article concentrates on books in theliteral sense (and does not include metaphorical us-age, like the “Book of Life” or the “book of the cove-nant”).

2. Origins of Christianity and Antiquity. InChristian language, the literary units of the OT arecalled “books” (“book of Genesis,” “book of Isa-iah”), while the term does not normally designateparts of the NT (not “book of Matthew,” despiteMatt 1 : 1, with the exception of the “book of Reve-lation”). This usage may reflect the fact that theGospels/Letters circulated only for a very shortphase as separate items. Quite soon they were com-bined into bigger corpora, although in the firstthree centuries no evidence emerges for books witha complete collection of what became the canon ofthe NT – let alone the entire Bible. Even if thesebooks were relatively modest in terms of size andprize (by later standards as well as those of literaryproduction for other texts of the time), their ownersesteemed them highly nonetheless. In the case ofpersecution, Christians handed them over only un-der extreme pressure, their burning was perceivedas a particularly severe form of punishment (Lactan-tius, mort. pers. 12.2; Cirta protocol [CSEL 26 : 188Ziwsa]; Passio Sancti Philippi Heracleae 442 [Ruinart]).

A new stage arose with the emergence of largeparchment codices containing the entire Bible atthe beginning of the 4th century CE. Some of thesebooks were literally of imperial sumptuousness. Forinstance, Constantine ordered fifty codices at thescriptorium of Caesarea for the churches of the newcapital he founded (Constantinople, Vit. Const. 4.36–37). The imperial letter was directed to Eusebius ofCaesarea, an “impresario of the codex” (Williams/Grafton), and he may have used the opportunity todiffuse his ingenious system of the canon tables,which enabled the location of parallel passages inthe four Gospels. These sober tables were not onlya useful device for scholars, but with their refinedlayout scheme they also contributed to the beauty

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of the book as a work of art (Nordenfalk), becominga standard feature of the Gospel books in most an-tique languages and cultures. Although the choiceof the codex originally had no religious or spiritualconnotations, these and other features testify to anongoing process of “sacralization” of the Christianbook.

This development also appears in the begin-nings of Christian book illumination, where Gospelbooks especially were lavishly decorated (e.g., theRossano codex and the Rabbula codex, both 6th cent.CE). At times precious bindings underlined the im-portance and the value of the book for the viewerfrom the outside, and some book covers with figu-rative scenes or with crosses made of silver or ivoryhave survived (Lowden). Moreover, books were car-ried around in a procession and liturgically vener-ated. Even among ascetics and monks, the produc-tion and possession of “holy books” was common.Although their primary purpose was, of course, theedificative reading of Scripture, many legends madeclear that a book could have a value of it own, apartfrom its textual content. Small codices could beused as amulets, seen as miraculous and combinedwith relics to enhance their holiness (Rapp). How-ever, these observations should not detract from thefact that late antiquity saw a flourishing of literacyfavored by the Christian culture of the book. Whilethe choice of the codex made books readily avail-able, the general esteem for Scripture and holy textsmade reading and writing important. Indeed, theholiness of the book led to an extraordinary displayof art. Not by coincidence could Christians and Jewsat the end of antiquity appear from an outside per-spective as “people of scripture/book [ahl al kitab]” –the expression used by Muh� ammad in the Qur�anto distinguish these groups from the unfaithful(e.g., S 3 : 64).

3. Middle Ages and Beyond. According to a capti-vating thesis of Armando Petrucci, the late antiquerepresentation of open books stemmed from theirpurposes for reading and writing, whereas a pre-vailing performative role in the Middle Ages ledbooks to their depiction as closed. Though some-what of an oversimplification (and certainly not al-ways true for Byzantium and the East), it does drawattention to an important point: the significance ofthe book is not defined only by its contents, for itcould have a function even if it remained un-opened. As mentioned previously, books could bevenerated (sanctioned by the second Council of Ni-caea in 787 CE) or employed for magical purposes,and they could even be used as weapons. Accordingto legend, St. Boniface used a book to defend him-self from the strokes of his heathen adversaries, andalthough he was ultimately killed, the strokes couldnot damage the actual text of the book (allegedlythe Codex Ragyndrudis, preserved in Fulda). The leg-end therefore emblematically stresses the superior-ity of the book over mundane weapons.

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Over many centuries, production and reading ofbooks came largely under the control of clergy andmonasteries. A first flourishing arose in the Caro-lingian period, when many scriptoria provided thematerial basis for the learned culture of the time.However, large parts of antique literature do notemerge in codices earlier than the 9th century CE:along with the late antique scriptoria, this phaseconstitutes the decisive “filter” through which textshad to pass in order to survive. These books werewritten in the so-called Carolingian minuscule, aform of writing that later formed the basis of hu-manist typefaces and, ultimately, most modernprinted types. Moreover, a somewhat similar phe-nomenon took place in Byzantium under Constan-tine VII Porphyrogennetos (905–959 CE), when cul-tural knowledge was reorganized in new books(partly coinciding with the process of transcribingfrom majuscule to minuscule forms of writing).

Medieval book illumination had not been re-stricted to, but did concentrate on, religious bookslike Bibles and missals. While pictures had a repre-sentative function, they also showed the high reli-gious regard with which the book was held. A par-ticularly profound emotional link to the bookdeveloped in Armenia. Many colophons indicate thematerial book was charged with theological mean-ing (e.g., the Lemberg gospel; see Schmidt): thephysical Scripture could be seen as the incarnationof the metaphysical word. God was made human,and since the Son of God is no longer physicallypresent, the corporality of his word is now manifestin the holy book. In the Western later Middle Ages,illustrated scenes of the OT and NT circulated as aso-called Biblia pauperum for didactic purposes forthe illiterate (the term sometimes used improperlyin a broader sense). Such works could be producedas woodcut prints, thereby serving as precursors ofbooks printed with movable type.

The impact of this invention on Christianityproved considerable. Edited by Erasmus of Rotter-dam, the NT was printed for the first time in Greek(Basel 1516), and many Christian texts, especiallyby church fathers, were printed in the early stage aswell, thereby becoming easily available. The Refor-mation made use of the new media right from thebeginning. In this way, the writings of Martin Lu-ther and his followers could be distributed all overEurope in high numbers and short time, which con-tributed to the success of the movement. On theother hand, the religious message had also beenshaped by the media: the Protestant emphasis onthe Bible as fundament of faith would have had lit-tle effect without the actual availability of the textat a relatively low cost. Luther’s German translationwas distributed in 100,000 copies in only 15 years.Indeed, the intransigent way in which old Protes-tant orthodoxy insisted on the immediate inspira-tion of every comma of Scripture presupposes a

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level of textual constancy that could only begranted by printed books. Besides the Bible, a fur-ther important innovation for religious life was theability to disseminate edificative treatises in largenumbers. The most successful books in this cat-egory were De imitatione Christi of Thomas à Kempisand the Paradiesgärtlein of Johann Arndt. As one ofthe goals of the pietist movement in the 18th cen-tury stood the mass production and diffusion of Bi-bles in as many languages as possible (CansteinscheBibelanstalt in Halle). This combination of missionand book production led to the foundation of Biblesocieties all over the world, favored by industrialmeans of printing in the 19th century (the mostimportant being the “British and Foreign Bible So-ciety,” founded in 1804).

The high esteem for books, especially the Bible,led Gotthold Ephraim Lessing to the polemicalcharacterization of Protestantism as “bibliolatry,”as opposed to the true and pure religion of reason.However, in his theory of religions, Max Müller dis-tinguished the lower-level “religion of the cult”from a higher level “religion of the book,” the latterincluding Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. With-out Müller’s theoretical framework and with verydifferent connotations, this usage persists in vari-ous contemporary contexts.

Bibliography: ■ Blanck, H., Das Buch in der Antike (München1992). ■ Casson, L., Libraries in the Ancient World (New Haven, Conn. 2001). ■ Cavallo, G., “Libro e pubblico alla finedel mondo antico,” in Libri, editori e pubblico nel mondo antico(ed. G. Cavallo; Rome 21977) 81–132. ■ Gamble, H. Y.,Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts (New Haven, Conn. 1995). ■ Grafton, A./M. Williams, Christianity and the Transformation of the Book: Origen,Eusebius and the Library of Caesarea (Cambridge, Mass. 2006).■ Hunger, H., Schreiben und Lesen in Byzanz: Die byzantinischeBuchkultur (München 1989). ■ Koep, L., “Buch 1: technisch,” RAC 2 (Stuttgart 1954) 664–88. ■ Lanczkowski, G.,“Buch/Buchwesen 1: Religionsgeschichtlich,” TRE 7 (Berlin/New York 1981) 270–72. ■ Lowden, J., “The Word MadeVisible: The Exterior of the Early Christian Book as VisualArgument,” in The Early Christian Book (eds. W. E. Klingshirn/L. Safran; Washington, D.C. 2007) 13–47. ■ Nordenfalk, C., Die spätantiken Kanontafeln: Kunstgeschichtliche Studienüber die eusebianische Evangelien Konkordanz in den vier erstenJahrhunderten ihrer Geschichte, 2 vols. (Göteborg 1938). ■ Petrucci, A., “La concezione cristiana del libro fra VI e VII secolo,” in Libri e lettori nel Medioevo: Guida storica e critica (ed.G. Cavallo; Bari 1989 [= 1977]) 3–25. ■ Rapp, C., “HolyTexts, Holy Men, Holy Scribes: Aspects of Scriptural Holiness in Late Antiquity,” in The Early Christian Book (eds. W. E.Klingshirn/L. Safran; Washington, D.C. 2007) 194–222.■ Schmidt, A., “Die Kolophone des Lemberger Evangeliars,”in Das Lemberger Evangeliar: Eine wiederentdeckte armenische Bilderhandschrift des 12. Jahrhunderts (eds. G. Prinzing/A.Schmidt; Sprachen und Kulturen des christlichen Orients 2;Wiesbaden 1997) 93–110. ■ Trobisch, D., Die Endredaktiondes Neuen Testaments: Eine Untersuchung zur Entstehung derchristlichen Bibel (NTOA 31; Freiburg i.Ue. 1996). ■ Wallraff, M., Kodex und Kanon: Das Buch im frühen Christentum (Berlin 2012).

Martin Wallraff

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