4.0270 Codex and Scroll/Canon (1/51)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 11 Jul 90 16:45:55 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0270. Wednesday, 11 Jul 1990.
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 1990 15:19 IST
From: Marc Bregman <HPUBM@HUJIVM1>
Subject: Codex and Scroll/Canon
In reply to George Aichele's "More on Codex" of June 30, here is the
bibliographical information that I hope some others involved in the
Great Canon Debate may also find of interest.
Prof. Menahem Haran of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has been doing
quite alot of research on how Biblical and other ancient texts were
committed to writing (the materials: papyrus, skins, parchment, etc. and
the formats: scrolls, codices, etc.) and its impact on the question of
how these texts were canonized. Haran is presently preparing a
booklength monograph on this subject in Hebrew. But quite a number of
articles have already appeared:
"Book-Scrolls in Israel in Pre-Exilic Times", Journal of Jewish Studies
33:1-2, (1982), pp. 161-173.
"Book-Scrolls at the Beginning of the Second Temple Period -- The
Transition from Papyrus to Skins", Hebrew Union College Annual 54
(1983), pp. 111-122.
"More Concerning Book Scrolls in Pre-Exilic Times", Journal of Jewish
Studies 35 (1984), pp. 84-85.
"Book Size and the Device of Catch Lines in the Biblical Canon", Journal
of Jewish Studies 36 (1985), pp. 1-11.
"Bible Scrolls in Eastern and Western Jewish Communities from Qumran to
the High Middle Ages", Hebrew Union College Annual 56 (1985), pp. 21-62.
"The Codex, the Pinax and the Wooden Slats", Tarbiz 57 (1988), pp.
151-164 [Hebrew with English abstract]
Book Size and the Thematic Cycles in the Pentateuch," Die Hebraeische
Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte -- Festschrift fuer Rolf
Rendtorff zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. E. Blum, C. Macholz u. E. W. Stegemann
As I mentioned in my earlier communication, I have dealt with the
continued use of the Scroll format for non-Biblical materials ("Oral
Torah") in my article: "An Early Fragment of Avot deRabbi Natan from a
Scroll", Tarbiz 52 (1983), pp. 201-222 [Hebrew with English Abstact].
Since then another such scroll fragment has been published by: Peter
Schaefer in his Geniza-Fragmente zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Tuebingen,
1984), pp. 9-32. I believe other such early material may be found in a
book to which I do not have immediate access: C. Sirat, M. Dukan & M.
Beit Arie, Les papyrus ecrits en lettres hebraiques trouves en Egypt
[CNRS].
I would be most grateful for any additional bibliography on the
transition from Scroll to Codex which has not appeared in the
discussion of Canon so far.
Marc Bregman, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem [HPUBM@HUJIVM1]