From Scrolls To Scrolling

Throughout history, the study of sacred texts has focused almost exclusively on the content and meaning of these writings. Such a focus obscures the fact that sacred texts are always embodied in particular material forms—from ancient scrolls to contemporary electronic devices. Using the digital turn as a starting point, this volume highlights material dimensions of the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The essays in this collection investigate how material aspects have shaped the production and use of these texts within and between the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, from antiquity to the present day. Contributors also reflect on the implications of transitions between varied material forms and media cultures. Taken together, the essays suggests that materiality is significant for the academic study of sacred texts, as well as for reflection on developments within and between these religious traditions. This volume offers insightful analysis on key issues related to the materiality of sacred texts in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, while also highlighting the significance of transitions between various material forms, including the current shift to digital culture.

Throughout history, the study of sacred texts has focused almost exclusively on the content and meaning of these writings. Such a focus obscures the fact that sacred texts are always embodied in particular material forms—from ancient scrolls to contemporary electronic devices. Using the digital turn as a starting point, this volume highlights material dimensions of the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The essays in this collection investigate how material aspects have shaped the production and use of these texts within and between the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, from antiquity to the present day. Contributors also reflect on the implications of transitions between varied material forms and media cultures. Taken together, the essays suggests that materiality is significant for the academic study of sacred texts, as well as for reflection on developments within and between these religious traditions. This volume offers insightful analysis on key issues related to the materiality of sacred texts in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, while also highlighting the significance of transitions between various material forms, including the current shift to digital culture.

A beautifully illustrated, full-color guide to scrolls and their uses in medieval life. Scrolls have always been shrouded by a kind of aura, a quality of somehow standing outside of time. They hold our attention with their age, beauty, and perplexing format. Beginning in the fourth century, the codex—or book—became the preferred medium for long texts. Why, then, did some people in the Middle Ages continue to make scrolls? In The Role of the Scroll, music professor and historian Thomas Forrest Kelly brings to life the most interesting scrolls in medieval history, placing them in the context of those who made, commissioned, and used them, and reveals their remarkably varied uses. Scrolls were the best way to keep ever-expanding lists, for example, those of debtors, knights, and the dead, the names of whom were added to existing rolls of parchment through the process of “enrollment.” While useful for keeping public records, scrolls could also be extremely private. Forgetful stage performers relied on them to recall their lines—indeed, “role” comes from the French word for scroll—and those looking for luck carried either blessings or magic spells, depending on their personal beliefs. Finally, scrolls could convey ceremonial importance, a purpose that lives on with academic diplomas. In these colorful pages, Kelly explores the scroll’s incredible diversity and invites us to examine showy court documents for empresses and tiny amulets for pregnant women. A recipe for turning everyday metal into gold offers a glimpse into medieval alchemy, and a log of gifts for Queen Elizabeth I showcases royal flattery and patronage. Climb William the Conqueror’s family tree and take a journey to the Holy Land using a pilgrimage map marked with such obligatory destinations as Jaffa, where Peter resurrected Tabitha, and Ramada, the city of Saint Joseph’s birth. A lively and accessible guide, The Role of the Scroll is essential reading—and viewing—for anyone interested in how people keep record of life through the ages.

A Better Pencil puts our complex, still-evolving hate-love relationship with computers and the internet into perspective, describing how the digital revolution influences our reading and writing practices, and how the latest technologies differ from what came before.

An artist's assembly of contemporary speculations on politics, technology and more Edited by artist Anne de Vries in collaboration with an AI text generator, this book offers a "scroll" through the tumultuous present, from posthumanism to the anthropocene, with writings from esteemed contemporary theorists.

In The Codex, published in 1954, C.H. Roberts studied the process by which in the early centuries of our era the roll as the vehicle for literature was replaced by the codex, which has remained the format of the book ever since. New evidence that has accumulated in the last thirty years has set some of the problems in a new light and in this book, published here for the first time in paperback, the authors re-examine these and offer a different explanation for the remarkable part in the transformation played by the early Church.

Stunning fretwork designs that used to take untold hours can be made quickly and easily. More than 200 fabulous full-size patterns with easy-to-follow instructions enable any scroll saw owner to master the art in a weekend. "This is perhaps the most complete pattern book of this nature in existence."--"The Mallet."

Almost everyone is doing it. Aimlessly scrolling through their social media feeds. From presidents to the postmen, most people you know and probably even yourself. Mindlessly, your fingers move across the screen, and content, from selfies to memes, flickers by at a blistering pace. Why is it that the screen sometimes seems more important than looking up and being present in real life? And what does it mean that more and more people are turning into so-called "Scroll Zombies"? Sven Rollenhagen thoughtfully discusses social media use and how it affects us both psychologically and physically. How the rise of social media has created an onslaught of mental health problems in young people. And how withdrawal can lead to symptoms, not unlike those caused by more familiar dependencies such as drugs and alcohol. But, are we really addicted? And if so, how can we be cured? Rollenhagen does not advocate for throwing away your phone or logging off Instagram forever, he acknowledges the powerful connection that social media has in connecting friends, family and strangers across the globe. Instead, this book contains practical tips and solutions for kicking dependency and finding true digital balance. Sven Rollenhagen is a social worker specialising in the digital ad-diction of video games, social media and mobile phones. He works as a councellor, lecturer and writer in these fields. Sven’s strength as an expert in digital issues is that he is in touch with reality – as a councellor and lecturer for families and schools. He is also a friend of technology, plays online and is a frequent user of social media. Sven is based in Sweden but has clients all over the world