Les delimitations editoriales des Ecritures des bibles anciennes aux lectures modernes: Editorial Delimitations of the Scriptures from Ancient Bibles to Modern Readings

From time immemorial scribes provided their manuscripts with visual

markings guiding the reader to the interpretation they deemed correct.

Colour, punctuation and empty spaces were their first distinctive layout

markers. Later on elaborate ornaments, capitals and headers adorned the

beginning of books, chapters and paragraphs.

All these helpful pointers are also present in manuscripts and prints of

the Bible. Their influence is evident in the reception history of the

Scriptures as codified in translations and commentaries. Strangely

enough, however, they are almost totally ignored in modern biblical

scholarship.

To remedy this gap Pericope series was started twenty years ago.

The present volume provides insight in what has been achieved in the

relatively young discipline of delimitation criticism up till now.

Through a dozen contributions, the biblical and patristic corpuses are

investigated in several directions: How were the texts delimited in

Antiquity? What intentions can be discerned behind delimitations in

Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Syriac Bibles? What transformation of meaning

do the divisions of textual units bring about in certain modern

translations compared to ancient documents? What are the nature and

signification of the divisions and titles in the Psalms, Greek and

Syriac? How did some Greek authors refer to a specific biblical text?

What can we learn from the Greek synopses ? And what profit for this

kind of research has a digital tool like Biblindex to offer?

These are, without a doubt, the first milestones for new investigations

to come.