Digitized Gutenberg Bible Available

Prince_Ali writes "A digital copy of the Gutenburg Bible, the first major Western book printed from movable type, has been made available by The University of Texas, available through the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. The Ransom Center's copy of the Bible is claimed to be the finest in the world, and is now freely available to anyone who would like to examine it. More information can be found via this CNN.com article."

Comments

regardless of religion....

[sweeney37]

wow, who would of thought the ability to see this work of art is as rare today as when it was first printed.

it's a very breathtaking and wonderful object to view.

Mike

Re:Christianity and the Gutenberg Bible

[kongjie]

Where did someone suggest that the digitized images were meant as a "study bible"? This is a museum piece, that's the whole point, but it's a museum piece with much greater access now.

Even the average Latin student is not going to be able to read those digitized images or even the actual pages, given the typography.

Cross-referencing does not have to be done in the margins of a book. Do you know how many in-depth studies of texts are done in rare book rooms? Without drawing on the books?

If nothing else, making the GB more available will teach the average huckleberry that the bible wasn't written in english, lol.

So much for a free press..

[molo]

Further reproduction of any of the Gutenberg Bible images without the written consent of the Ransom Center is prohibited.

So much for a free press and research materials.. This is such a load of crap. The largest images publicly available are 835x600.

Inquiries regarding the availability of higher-resolution digital images for research or publication should be directed to the Center's staff.

All this from a public university. Your tax dollars at work!

-molo

Mod parent overrated please!

[nacturation]

...but as a study Bible it falls quite short.

Is this the beginning of your strawman argument? Nobody suggested it is a study bible. You threw that out there and you then proceed to back up your blatantly incorrect assertion.

Also, it is simply not available to the general public.

Again, it's not meant to be. Unless the public is clamoring for a latin text, what does it matter that it's only available to those with internet access? The images aren't large enough (even the enlarged ones) to really read comfortably even if you are fluent in latin.

Finally, the Gutenberg Bible does not have an easily accessible concordance.

You mean it has no concordance? Dude, this is of archeological signicance only. Nobody in their right mind would learn latin so that they could study this thing. I get the feeling by now that you're simply trolling, but seeing that you got a +5 Informative, I feel compelled to respond.

the fact that Gutenberg Bible owners won't let you touch the things, much less write in the margins, means that you are pretty much hamstrung as far as study goes.

Dude, I can write in the margins. My Jiffy marker shows up great on my monitor screen, and it's always there for me. And as for being hamstrung, does my lack of speaking Latin hamstring me too?

If you are truly serious about studying the Bible as a living book, and not as a museum piece, then pick up a New King James or NIV version.

On this point I have to agree. This is a museum piece and isn't great for studying. After all, looking up Psalm 137:9 in King James Version is much more eloquent:

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."

Gives it a nice Shakespearean quality I'd say. But if you're not into that, the NIV is a lot clearer:

"Happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us- he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."

Nothing quite says God Loves You like a little bit of infant seizing and rock dashing.

Re:Christianity and the Gutenberg Bible

[Skyshadow]

if you are truly serious you'll go for the source...

If you're truly serious, you'll find that the exact words are unimportant if you're able to understand their intent. That's what the NIV Bible is trying to accomplish (although I don't agree with their results, but that's another matter). This ain't easy, however -- it generally requires a pretty good understanding of the era in which the sources were written, the sorts of mythology from which certain portions are lifted or evolved from, etc.

It seems to me that adherants to western religions are stymied by their need for a literal instruction manual to their faith. It tends to lead to less of an appreciation of the nuances of their beliefs and bogs them down in the literal interpretations, many of which were originally intended to be metaphors to begin with.

It's odd that the progression in the Axial Age moved from what I'd consider the "best" take on religion -- Buddhism, which stresses the style of thinking and individual pursuit of enlightenment versus attachment to single interpretations -- to Christianity to Islam, which is the worst offender in terms of demanding literal interpretation (since the Koran is supposed to be the end-all-be-all Word directly from the Big Guy's mouth).

I suspect that literal, close-to-source literature is attractive to a lot of people because it's easy. "God created heaven and earth, here's what he wants you to do" is a lot easier than approaches to spirituality which demand that you figure a lot out on your own.