Christian Manuscript Culture

Catalog description

Investigating provenience & provenance of Christian manuscripts, esp. in Duke University collections. Manuscripts as windows into religious and cultural priorities of Christians from late antiquity to beyond medieval period. Books as liturgical objects; histories of transmission & reception of biblical & patristic texts; manuscripts as gifts and plunder; texts and paratexts as evidence of lived religion. Canon formation and representation, philological and aesthetic notions of 'the authentic,' and scribal and scholarly expertise as aspects of book production and circulation will also be addressed as individual manuscripts are placed within their complex historical and material contexts.