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God's Library

The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
God's Library by Brent Nongbri offers a bold and groundbreaking exploration of early Christian manuscripts, challenging much of what is traditionally believed. Moving beyond textual analysis, the book examines these manuscripts as unique material artefacts with their own histories, revealing how the antiquities market has often clouded our understanding of their origins. Through meticulous archival research and studies of major manuscript collections, Nongbri illuminates the fascinating stories these three-dimensional texts tell.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4099
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is well suited for scholars and students of theology, religious studies, and early Christian history, as well as anyone interested in manuscript studies and the material culture of ancient texts.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A provocative book from a highly original scholar, challenging much of what we know about early Christian manuscripts

In this bold and groundbreaking book, God's Library, Brent Nongbri provides an up-to-date introduction to the major collections of early Christian manuscripts and demonstrates that much of what we thought we knew about these books and fragments is mistaken. While biblical scholars have expended much effort in their study of the texts contained within the earliest Christian manuscripts, there has been a surprising lack of interest in thinking about these books as material objects with individual, unique histories. We have too often ignored the ways that the antiquities market obscures our knowledge of the origins of these manuscripts.

Through painstaking archival research and detailed studies of the most important collections of early Christian manuscripts, Nongbri vividly shows that the earliest Christian books are more than just carriers of texts or samples of handwriting. They are three-dimensional archaeological artifacts with fascinating stories to tell, if we’re willing to listen.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its clarity and depth, God's Library is described as a captivating and richly illustrated work on ancient manuscript production. Johannes van Oort commends its focus on significant papyri and codices. Thomas Johann Bauer calls it a stimulating introduction to early manuscript studies, while Sean A. Adams highlights Nongbri's skill in synthesising complex data clearly. Paul Foster notes its broad appeal for New Testament scholars. The book was a finalist for the 2019 PROSE awards and won the 2019 Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300248609

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 January 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Illustration: 73 b-w illus.

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 416

About the Author

Brent Nongbri is an Honorary Research Fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and the author of Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept and numerous articles on the paleography and codicology of early Christian manuscripts.

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    A first-of-its-kind handbook outlining best practices and common pitfalls for students and textual scholars interested in beginning to work with manuscripts While manuscripts are rare in most of the world today, they were once ubiquitous. Before the printing press, literature was preserved and transmitted through handwritten copies containing variant readings, mistakes, corrections, and other unique features. Those who study premodern...
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    For much of the past two centuries, religion has been understood as a universal phenomenon, a part of the “natural” human experience that is essentially the same across cultures and throughout history. Individual religions may vary through time and geographically, but there is an element, religion, that is to be found in all cultures during all time periods. Taking apart...
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