Nadia Al-Bagdadi | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

The essays show that the printing of religious Muslim and Orthodox texts cannot be considered as mere technical innovation of reproduction. Since printing required special knowledge and allowed a much wider circulation, it triggered a debate among the religious elites and in their societies about fundamental dilemmas. (1) Who is allowed to have access to Holy Scriptures? What does it mean that people not belonging to the (traditional) religious elite will be able to read sacred texts? (2) If a broad circulation is technically feasible, why should not texts in the religious canon be printed in the language of the people? How does the "production of meaning" of a sacred text change if it is circulated by means of print? The essays see print culture as a central issue characterizing intellectual dynamics in societies of the Modern period. They give insight into changes in religious hermeneutics of Holy Scriptures, the democratization of knowledge, religious elites undergoing changes, and the secularization of religious traditions in Romania, Egypt, Russia, India, Croatia, East and West Bengal, as well as among the Assyrians of the Middle East.