Daniel Fook Boon ENG

The study of manuscripts has contributed to the inquiry into the human past, book technologies, and the reception history of ancient traditions. However, biblical scholars have until recently focused only on the transmission of the text itself, overlooking significant ubiquitous features like titles, sub-headings, and other annotations (referred to as paratexts). This methodology misses critical information left behind by their ancient producers, as evidenced by “Titles in the New Testament” (TiNT), a €1.5M-funded project currently underway in Glasgow. In collaboration with TiNT, my project will focus on one of the most widely transmitted manuscript traditions—the New Testament—working to identify and annotate the paratexts found in the Catholic Epistles. My research analyzes and investigates how these ubiquitous features influence the ways its texts were interpreted by its communities. The outcome of this investigation will serve to answer biblical hermeneutical questions and offer new ways of engaging ancient manuscripts.