A List in Three Dimensions

Wallraff examines the canon tables of the gospels, composed by Eusebius of Caesarea in the first half of the fourth century CE, as a new form of synopsis: a list in three dimensions which uses both the extension (length and breadth) of a page in a codex, and the hypertextuality within the codex (intratextual references back and forth). In the antique culture of the book, this system raises the list to a new level of complexity. Given the extraordinary success of the device (with many hundreds of extant copies in numerous languages), the impact on viewing habits and textual practices was enormous

Biblia Arabica: An Update on the State of Research

The aim of this contribution is to review some of the major areas of current research on the Arabic Bible, along with the factors and trends contributing to them. Also we present some of the tools that are currently under development in the Biblia Arabica team, Munich. We provide here a very condensed survey of the transmission of traditions, as well as ways that biblical manuscripts in Arabic have been analysed and classified, covering both Old Testament/ Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Overall, the lack of critical editions for Arabic biblical texts in general reflects not just the overwhelming number of versions and manuscripts, but also the fundamental challenge these translations present on the level of textuality. Standard paradigms of authorship and transmission break down in the face of the complex reuse, revision, and layering of paratexts seen in these texts. It is the careful study of manuscripts, not simply as texts but also as physical objects, which holds promise for reconstructing the practices of producers and consumers of the Arabic Bible. A union catalogue of Arabic Bible manuscripts will gather the paleographic and codicological information necessary for further research. Moreover, it will link manuscripts, translators, and scribes to the online Bibliography of the Arabic Bible, which is intended to be a comprehensive, classified, and searchable reference tool for secondary literature. In conclusion, scholarship of the Arabic Bible now has considerable momentum, but must continue to keep its fundamental resource – that of manuscripts – in the foreground of research

Cross-communal scholarly interactions

This chapter traces cross-communal interactions in the fields of medicine, mathematics and what the historical actors called the natural sciences. It discusses various modern interpretations of those interactions and engages with a number of historical problems researchers face when studying the extant sources. After a substantive survey of the current state of research, the chapter addresses four areas which offer fascinating evidence for interactions between scholars adhering to different faith communities: textual practices; teaching; patronage; workplaces. The chapter ends by suggesting future research directions

The Bible in Arabic

The aim of this contribution is to review some of the major areas of current research on the Arabic Bible, along with the factors and trends contributing to them. Also we present some of the tools that are currently under development in the Biblia Arabica team, Munich. We provide here a very condensed survey of the transmission of traditions, as well as ways that biblical manuscripts in Arabic have been analysed and classified, covering both Old Testament/ Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Overall, the lack of critical editions for Arabic biblical texts in general reflects not just the overwhelming number of versions and manuscripts, but also the fundamental challenge these translations present on the level of textuality. Standard paradigms of authorship and transmission break down in the face of the complex reuse, revision, and layering of paratexts seen in these texts. It is the careful study of manuscripts, not simply as texts but also as physical objects, which holds promise for reconstructing the practices of producers and consumers of the Arabic Bible. A union catalogue of Arabic Bible manuscripts will gather the paleographic and codicological information necessary for further research. Moreover, it will link manuscripts, translators, and scribes to the online Bibliography of the Arabic Bible, which is intended to be a comprehensive, classified, and searchable reference tool for secondary literature. In conclusion, scholarship of the Arabic Bible now has considerable momentum, but must continue to keep its fundamental resource – that of manuscripts – in the foreground of research

Cross-Communal Scholarly Interactions

This chapter traces cross-communal interactions in the fields of medicine, mathematics and what the historical actors called the natural sciences. It discusses various modern interpretations of those interactions and engages with a number of historical problems researchers face when studying the extant sources. After a substantive survey of the current state of research, the chapter addresses four areas which offer fascinating evidence for interactions between scholars adhering to different faith communities: textual practices; teaching; patronage; workplaces. The chapter ends by suggesting future research directions

Project: Biblia Arabica. The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians and Muslims

Biblia Arabica is a joint research project directed by Camilla Adang, Meira Polliack (Tel Aviv University) and Sabine Schmidtke (Freie Universität Berlin) with a German Israeli Project Cooperation grant of the German Research Association. The project runs for five years, 2013–2017