Paratext

What Is "Paratext"?

According to Gregory Goswell, "Paratext may be defined as everything in a text other than the words, that is to say, those elements that are adjoined to the text but are not part of the text itself if “text” is limited strictly to the words. The paratext of Scripture embraces features such as the order of the biblical books, the names assigned to the different books, and the differing schemes of textual division within the books. Since these elements are adjoined to the text and frame the text, whether a reader notices or not, they have an influence on reading and may assist (or sometimes hinder) the interpretation of the text of Scripture." [Gregory Goswell, Text and Paratext: Book Order, Title, and Division as Keys to Biblical Interpretation (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2023), 1.]

A Few Resources on Paratext

• Select Books and Articles

  • Edmon L. Gallagher, “The End of the Bible? The Position of Chronicles in the Canon,” Tyndale Bulletin 65.2 (2014): 181–99.

  • Greg Goswell, “The Order of the Books in the Hebrew Bible,” JETS 51.4 (2008) 673–88.

  • Greg Goswell, “Having the Last Say: The End of the Old Testament,” JETS 58.1 (2015): 15–30.

  • Gregory Goswell, “Putting the Book of Chronicles in Its Place,” JETS 60.2 (2017): 283–99.

  • Gregory Goswell, Text and Paratext: Book Order, Title, and Division as Keys to Biblical Interpretation (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2023).

  • Charles E. Hill, The First Chapters: Dividing the Text of Scripture in Codex Vaticanus and Its Predecessors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).

  • Marjo C. A. Korpel and Josef M. Oesch, eds., Delimitation Criticism: A New Tool in Biblical Scholarship, Pericope 1 (Assen: Van Gorcum, 2000).

  • Jeremy D. Lyon, "Genesis 1:1–3 and the Literary Boundary of Day One," JETS 62.2 (2019): 269– 85.

  • Elvira Martín-Contreras' Academia site (numerous resources on Biblical Hebrew paratext): https://csic.academia.edu/ElviraMart%C3%ADnContreras 

  • James Nogalski, Literary Precursors to the Book of the Twelve (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1993).

  • Josef M. Oesch, Petucha und Setuma, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 27 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1979).

  • Charles Perrot, “Petuhot et setumot: etude sur les alineas du Pentateuque,” Revue Biblique 76 (1969): 50–91.

  • Steven E. Runge, “Where Three or More Are Gathered There Is Discontinuity: The Correlation between Formal Linguistic Markers of Segmentation and the Masoretic Petuha and Setuma Markers in Genesis 12–25,” in Greeks, Jews, and Christians: historical, religious and philological studies in honor of Jesús Peláez del Rosal, ed. Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Munoz Gallarte, Estudios de filología neotestamentaria 10 (Córdoba: Ediciones El Almendro, 2013), 13–28.

  • The Text and Canon Institute Website, textandcanon.org, including articles such as:

    • Kim Phillips on the Masoretic Text Tradition: https://textandcanon.org/the-extraordinary-hebrew-text-behind-your-english-bible/ 

    • Anthony Ferguson on the Dead Sea Scrolls: https://textandcanon.org/appreciating-the-diverse-evidence-from-the-dead-sea-scrolls/ 

    • Amy Anderson on New Testament Manuscripts: https://textandcanon.org/four-benefits-of-reading-greek-manuscripts/ 

  • Emanuel Tov, “Sense Divisions in the Qumran Texts, the Masoretic Text, and Ancient Translations of the Bible,” in Interpretation of the Bible: International Symposium on the Interpretation of the Bible, ed. J. Krasovec (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998), 121–46.

  • Israel Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, trans. E. J. Revell, Masoretic Studies, no. 5 (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1980), 40–42 §74.

• Manuscript image websites

  • Excellent curated lists with links:

    • Charles Grebe at AnimatedHebrew.com https://www.animatedhebrew.com/mss/index.html

    • The Library at Southeastern: https://library.sebts.edu/c.php?g=457318&p=3125408

    • Drew Longacre at Old Testament Textual Criticism: https://oldtestamenttextualcriticism.blogspot.com/p/online-digital-images.html 

  • Free, official sites:

    • British Library: https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2018/12/-download-hebrew-manuscripts-for-free-.html

    • British Library Hebrew Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts: https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/02/hebrew-illuminated-manuscripts-online.html 

    • Cambridge Digital Library: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/hebrew/1

    • Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668156/ 

    • National Library of Israel: https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/manuscripts/hebrew-manuscripts

    • Sefaria.org - choose Bible passage and then click/tap Manuscripts in the right pane, and view high resolution images of the Leningrad Codex: https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Tanakh

    • Codex Alexandrinus https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/12/new-testament-from-oldest-complete-bible-available-online.html

    • Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library: https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/article/hebrew-manuscripts 

  • Logos and Accordance Bible Software have paid access to various biblical manuscript images.