Approaches to the Medieval Bible

In this presentation, I hope to offer some observations about the concept of the Bible in the Middle Ages, both as book and as text, while keeping in mind that the modern concepts of “books” and “literacy” can be quite different from what they were in medieval society. How did medieval people approach the Bible, both as book and as text? How did these concepts change over time? How can new questions help us give a new perspective on the medieval Bible? I will discuss three areas that seem of special interest here: the use of Bibles in oath taking, the use of the Bible as gifts, and, finally the use of the Bible as text. In these three areas, I want to explore how changes in the concept of the text may have changed the very shape of the book itself.