LECTURE 2: A Book That is Not a Book
In this lecture, we consider that basic assumptions about how modern books are written and produced can lead us astray in considering how the Bible was written and produced. What was the “Great Book” before books (as we moderns know them) even existed? How, for example, does the fact that it was written on scrolls for a long time change our understanding of how it came to be? And how do ancient writing practices change our ideas about what it means to be an “author” of the Bible?
You may also want to check out the Babylonian creation epic that is mentioned in this lecture, Enuma Elish
Upper section of clay tablet containing the Enuma Elish
© The Trustees of the British Museum
In this lecture, I discuss the practice of writing biblical texts on scrolls well before the invention of the codex and the modern book. I’ll discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls more in a future lecture, but if you want to look at some examples of biblical books on scrolls, see the Dead Sea Scrolls website and this Bible Odyssey article.
You can read more about the J and P material in the flood story (and see how they break down) here.