About

About

The Bible constitutes one of the most influential and widely read books in human history. It consists of a body of writings responsible for shaping cultures, religions, and literatures for ages. It is divided into two main sections:

The Old Testament:
Constituted of texts written in Hebrew, it contains historical narratives, laws, poetry, prophecy, and wisdom literature. These texts are foundational to Judaism and Christianity. The books of the Old Testament vary slightly between religious traditions, such as Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian canons, but common groupings include:

  • The Torah (Pentateuch): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
  • Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
  • Wisdom Literature and Poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
  • The Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve Minor Prophets.

The New Testament:
Written in Greek and Aramaic, it focuses on the life of Jesus Christ, His teachings, His resurrection, and the development of the early Christian Church. Central to Christian theology and practice, the New Testament includes:

  • The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
  • Acts of the Apostles: A historical account of the early Church
  • The Epistles: Letters written by apostles such as Paul, James, Peter, and John, including Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and others
  • Apocalyptic Literature: The Book of Revelation

The Bible is an important literary work with a rich textual history. This website aims to present various editions of the Bible that are of particular interest due to their historical context, cultural value, and literary translation process, amongst other points of intrigue.

The selected editions of the Bible are examined from a bibliographic perspective, rather than a religious one. Digital tools are employed to facilitate new approaches in critical Bible studies and its textual history. 

This project was conceptualised as part of the Master ‘Rare Book and Digital Humanities’ located in Besançon, France. The Master aims at providing high level competence in rare and early books with a view to providing the capacity to work in the book trade or in rare book conservation and digitization, along with digital humanities expertise allowing one to supervise digitization, online accessibility, and 3D animation projects, among others.

For more information on the RBDH students, check out their blog here: https://rarebook-ubfc.fr/etudiants/