“Multiplicity and the Idea of Scripture.”

Last semester at Off-Script, Dr. David Lambert shared how he was reconceptualizing his understanding of “scripture” in light of assemblage theory. Happy to share that you can find his thoughts on this in print!

The Journal of Theological Studies just published an online version of “Multiplicity and the Idea of Scripture.” I think this resaerch article will be of interest to those intersted in the critical comparative study of scriptures, the redescription of religion and the Bible, as well as assemblage theory.

In the traditional scholarly narrative, a certain collection of ancient Israelite texts—the ‘Bible’— came to be accepted as ‘scripture’. Scholars disagree as to when or how this might have occurred, and even as to what defines ‘scripture’. Can the idea of a unique form of literature exhibiting regu- lar characteristics ever comprehend the variegation of the Bible’s so-called reception? This article reviews trends in recent study highlighting such multiplicity. Comparativists have looked at the role of scriptures around the world. Biblical scholars have shown that the authority of written texts in ancient Israel developed only relatively late. Scholars of ancient Judaism have attended to the proliferation of revealed literature in the Second Temple period. Even as studies reconsider what texts were counted as ‘scripture’ and when, they continue to rely on a naturalized idea of ‘scripture’, whether or not the term is used, as a conceptual apparatus. On a pragmatic level, such an adop- tion constrains the possibilities for describing the range of what texts can be and do. I conclude by exploring how we might trace the emerging identities of biblical texts without assuming that repetition (the commonality of engagement with the biblical) indicates sameness (the operation of ‘scripture’ as a rule).


Abstract for David Lambert’s “Multiplicity and the Idea of Scripture”

Congratulations to David! If you haven’t heard his presentation from Off-Script, check it out on our podcast, Broadcast Seeding.