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Information about this book was provided by its publisher in 2011. The description given is not an independent review. All details are subject to change, especially pricing. Please use the contact links at the top of this page to notify any innacuracy.

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Susan Boynton and Diane J. Reilly, eds.
The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages: Production, Reception, and Performance in Western Christianity.
Publisher: Columbia University Press.
Publication due: July 2011.
Page count: 376pp.
Illustrations: 26 halftones, 9 tables.

Publisher's recommended price
Hardback ISBN 9780231148269, $89.50 / £62.00
Paperback ISBN 9780231148276, $29.50 / £20.50

Description:

In this volume, specialists in literature, theology, liturgy, manuscript studies, and history introduce the medieval culture of the Bible in Western Christianity. Emphasizing the living quality of the text and the unique literary traditions that arose from it, they show the many ways in which the Bible was read, performed, recorded, and interpreted by various groups in medieval Europe. An initial orientation introduces the origins, components, and organization of medieval Bibles. Subsequent chapters address the use of the Bible in teaching and preaching, the production and purpose of Biblical manuscripts in religious life, early vernacular versions of the Bible, its influence on medieval historical accounts, the relationship between the Bible and monasticism, and instances of privileged and practical use, as well as the various forms the text took in different parts of Europe. The dedicated merging of disciplines, both within each chapter and overall in the book, enable readers to encounter the Bible in much the same way as it was once experienced: on multiple levels and registers, through different lenses and screens, and always personally and intimately.

Contents:
1. Susan Boynton and Diane J. Reilly. Orientation for the Reader
2. Susan Boynton. The Bible and the Liturgy
3. Richard Gyug. Bibles, Biblical Books, and the Monastic Liturgy in the Early Middle Ages
4. Isabelle Cochelin. When Monks Were the Book: The Bible and Monasticism (6th-11th Centuries)
5. Jennifer A. Harris. The Bible and the Meaning of History
6. Diane J. Reilly. Lectern Bibles and Liturgical Reform in the Central Middle Ages
7. Lila Yawn. The Italian Giant Bibles
8. Frans van Liere. Biblical Exegesis Through the Twelfth Century
9. Bert Roest. Mendicant School Exegesis
10. Eyal Poleg. "A Ladder Set Up on Earth": The Bible in Medieval Sermons
11. Laura Light. The Bible and the Individual: The Thirteenth-Century Paris Bible
12. Stella Panayotova. The Illustrated Psalter: Luxury and Practical Use
13. The Bible in English in the Middle Ages
Richard Marsden 14. Clive R. Sneddon. The Old French Bible: The First Complete Vernacular Bible in Western Europe
15. Emily C. Francomano. Castilian Vernacular Bibles in Iberia, c. 1250-1500