Biblia Latina Cum Postillis Nicolai de Lyra
Until the twelfth century, the Bible typically was not bound as a single book, even though the technology did allow this. There is a word for a book that includes the entire Bible: pandect. Early pandects such as the Codex Sinaiticus (fourth century) were exceptional; instead, scholars and clergy kept books related to specific liturgical purposes. The psalms and the gospels were the two most prolifically copied Biblical texts. In the twelfth century, however, a change in scholarly method led to the development of new tools and the reconfiguration of the Bible as a physical object. The prominent tool of Biblical study was the Glossa ordinaria, a gathering of patristic commentary around every passage. Here, the reader encounters the particular Biblical text through the authorized tradition of its interpretation. In the twelfth century, though, a method of comparison and distinction (distinctio) came to dominate Biblical studies. Here, the reader compares instances of words and themes in different parts of the Bible. The physicality of the text changes in revealing ways in order to facilitate this way of reading: first, having the Bible in one book allows access to the complete text; second, standardizing chapter divisions makes precise cross-referencing possible, and third, the invention of the verbal concordance rearranges the text in an unreadable way, but a way that allows the comparison of passages in a way never before possible. The Bibles in this exhibit show to varying degrees the signs of this cultural shift. From the 1481 Latin Bible, which has marginal notes cross-referencing New Testament passages to Old, to the Geneva Bible, which includes marginal cross-references and interpretive annotations, as well as multiple concordances and indexes, these Bibles bear the shape of movements in human thought.
In his poem "Holy Scriptures," the 17th century poet George Herbert articulates the way in which the inner life of the Spirit is enfleshed in active reading habits, reading habits that feature the turning of the pages:
Oh that I knew how
all thy lights combine,
And the configurations of their glorie!
Seeing not onely how each verse doth shine,
But all the constellations of the storie.
This verse marks that,
and both do make a motion
Unto a third, that ten leaves off doth lie:
Then as dispersed herbs do watch a potion,
These three make up some Christians destinie:
Such are thy secrets,
which my life makes good,
And comments on thee: for in ev'ry thing
Thy words do finde me out, & parallels bring,
And in another make me understood.
Starres are poore
books, & oftentimes do misse:
This book of starres lights to eternall blisse.
(The
Temple, 1633)