Unruly Books
Rethinking Ancient and Academic Imaginations of Religious Texts
Will be published approx. on 23. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-567-71572-2 (ISBN)
Description
This volume explores the idea of the unruly book, from books now known by their titles alone to books that subverted structures of power and gender. The contributors show how these books functioned as "sticky" objects, and they examine the story of what such books signified to the people who wrote, read, discussed, yearned for, or even prohibited them. The books examined are those of the first millennium of the Common Era, and the writings of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and related traditions. In particular, the contributors examine the bounty of books within this period that are hard to pin down, whether extant, lost, or imagined-books that challenge modern scholars to reconceptualize our notions of books (biblical or otherwise), religion, manuscript culture, and intellectual history. Through the critical analyses presented in this volume, the contributors negotiate the diverse stories told by unruly books and show that by listening to the stories that books tell, we learn more about the worlds that imagined and discussed them.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-567-71572-2 (9780567715722)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Esther Brownsmith is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Dayton, USA.
Liv Ingeborg Lied is Professor of the Study of Religion at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway.
Marianne Bjelland Kartzow is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway.
Liv Ingeborg Lied is Professor of the Study of Religion at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway.
Marianne Bjelland Kartzow is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway.
Content
Acknowledgements
ListofAbbreviations
Introduction to UnrulyBooks
Esther Brownsmith, University of Dayton Marianne Bjel land Kartzow, University o fOslo
Liv Ingeborg Lied, M FNorwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Section I :Unruliness in Early Jewish Texts
Chapter 1. Gender and Imagined Authorship of Ancient Jewish Texts
Hanna Tervanotko ,McMaster University
Chapter 2. Imagined and Unruly: The Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint
Benjamin Wright, Lehigh University
Chapter 3. Why Didn't Biblical Books Have Titles? A Study in Ancient Hebrew Literary Values
Seth Sanders, University of California, Davis
Section II: Unruliness in Early Christian Texts
Chapter 4. The Letter to the Laodiceans: A" Ghost of a Pauline Epistle?"
Vemund Blomkvist, University of Oslo
Chapter 5. Unruly Scriptures in the Greek Clementines
Ismo Dunderberg, University o fHelsinki
Chapter 6. Failed Gospels and Disciplinary Knowledge in Origen's Homily on Luke 1
Jeremiah Coogan, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
Section III: Unruliness in Islamic Texts
Chapter 7. Unruly Books in the Qur'an
Matthew P.Monger, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Chapter 8. Writing the self through listing others: Qa?i ?Iya?'s biobibliographical catalogue al-Ghunya
Nora Eggen, University of Oslo
Section IV: Unruly Receptions
Chapter 9. Hermetic Books Known Only by Title: Scrolls, Stelae, and the Egyptian Total Library
Christian Bull, University of Bergen
Chapter 10. The Canon and the Anti-Canon: Unruly Books and the Booklist Genre in Slavia Orthodoxa
SlavomirCeploe, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
Chapter 11. Books Known Only by Title in Book Lists: The Unruly Entries of the Gelasian Decree and Abdisho of Nisibis's Catalogue of the Books of the Church
Rebecca Solevag, VID Specialized University, Stavanger
Liv Ingeborg Lied, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Chapter 12. Gospel Thrillers: Unruly Knowledge in a Fictional Archive
Andrew Jacobs, Harvard Divinity School
ListofContributors
Bibliography
Index
ListofAbbreviations
Introduction to UnrulyBooks
Esther Brownsmith, University of Dayton Marianne Bjel land Kartzow, University o fOslo
Liv Ingeborg Lied, M FNorwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Section I :Unruliness in Early Jewish Texts
Chapter 1. Gender and Imagined Authorship of Ancient Jewish Texts
Hanna Tervanotko ,McMaster University
Chapter 2. Imagined and Unruly: The Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint
Benjamin Wright, Lehigh University
Chapter 3. Why Didn't Biblical Books Have Titles? A Study in Ancient Hebrew Literary Values
Seth Sanders, University of California, Davis
Section II: Unruliness in Early Christian Texts
Chapter 4. The Letter to the Laodiceans: A" Ghost of a Pauline Epistle?"
Vemund Blomkvist, University of Oslo
Chapter 5. Unruly Scriptures in the Greek Clementines
Ismo Dunderberg, University o fHelsinki
Chapter 6. Failed Gospels and Disciplinary Knowledge in Origen's Homily on Luke 1
Jeremiah Coogan, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
Section III: Unruliness in Islamic Texts
Chapter 7. Unruly Books in the Qur'an
Matthew P.Monger, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Chapter 8. Writing the self through listing others: Qa?i ?Iya?'s biobibliographical catalogue al-Ghunya
Nora Eggen, University of Oslo
Section IV: Unruly Receptions
Chapter 9. Hermetic Books Known Only by Title: Scrolls, Stelae, and the Egyptian Total Library
Christian Bull, University of Bergen
Chapter 10. The Canon and the Anti-Canon: Unruly Books and the Booklist Genre in Slavia Orthodoxa
SlavomirCeploe, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
Chapter 11. Books Known Only by Title in Book Lists: The Unruly Entries of the Gelasian Decree and Abdisho of Nisibis's Catalogue of the Books of the Church
Rebecca Solevag, VID Specialized University, Stavanger
Liv Ingeborg Lied, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Chapter 12. Gospel Thrillers: Unruly Knowledge in a Fictional Archive
Andrew Jacobs, Harvard Divinity School
ListofContributors
Bibliography
Index