I've been thinking for quite some time that, although the codex was a very important development for the Bible, its true perfect technology match is hypertext. So much of the meaning in individual bits of text has to do with the other passages to which they are referring. And since, let's face it, most people these days (and really, throughout the broad sweep of history, most people in most times) are not that familiar with the Biblical text, they are missing a lot when they just pick up and start reading at a particular place.
This cool link demonstrates graphically how many cross-references there are within the books of the Bible. Which is why I think hypertext is so well-suited -- it allows you not just to see the reference (chapter and verse) as a footnote, which is in a lot of editions of the Bible, but also to actually read the passage being referred to.
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2 comments:
OK, I'll bite: what's a codex, and why was it an important development for the bible?
A codex is a book as you or I would think of it, you know with a binding and pages that you turn. It was a significant technological development, replacing the scroll as the primary book technology.
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