Dr. Turner has attempted a difficult task and performed it with admiration, which is another way of saying this is a wonderful book. His task is difficult, because what he essentially doing in this book is tracing the development of textual criticism, textual analysis, and textual study (and those things related to it- especially in the field of literature and biblical criticism) and it's impact on the growth of the various disciplines that we now know today as the Humanities, (a term in much disrepute). The book is essentially a history of the development of the Humanities as a discipline-but in depth-not a broad overview as some before have done. One of the reasons such a book has not been written is revealed by looking at the number of the fields the author covers: linguistics, language, poetry, historical science, natural science, and especially, biblical criticism. The amount of literature in each field is enormous- reflecting both the fragmenting and bifurcation of knowledge in the humanistic disciplines. James Turner, admirably, has tried to tie the whole story together with a great deal of success.
The first two chapters deal with Greek antiquity and the Renaissance and the development in textual scholarship that occurred during these periods. The hardest for us moderns (perhaps) to understand is the attitude of the Early Church and medieval Church to biblical texts- very deeply colored by the desire to preserve texts because of doctrinal reasons and theological controversies. These factors, as Turner shows, influenced the way texts were preserved up and through the Renaissance and Reformation- and these attitudes were carried over into the theological controversies of the Reformation. The amount of work in these areas alone is staggering, and the need for compression means that much important detail is left out. In a work of this size and scope, and with a bibliography as good as Dr. Turner's the reader can go his/her own way so to speak. The individual biographies of Jerome (J.N.D. Kelly) and Origen (Crouzel, Henri, 1989) and Peter Brown's Biography of Augustine would help the reader. For the textual history of the New Testament, the authority is Kurt & Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament (1983) which has a very interesting section on the philological history of biblical criticism. Bruce Metzger is also a recognized authority. A new Cambridge History of the Bible (New edition 2012) has just come out, and features new chapters on biblical criticism. Turner also lists the work of Peter Harrison and several others in his bibliography. I would single out one other work- Jonathan Sheehan- The Enlightenment Bible (Princeton, 2005) which I think is also listed. A fascinating philological read of Enlightenment textual philology.
Turner then goes on to cover the real birth of philology at the Renaissance. and it's impact on textual scholarship. Here, Anthony Grafton is outstanding in his numerous contributions. Chapter 7 is of most interest (at least to me) as it covers the modern foundations of archaeology and history as it related to philology in Germany. This was deeply entangled with the religious problems of the period, as was the development of philology in England and it's ramifications on the Church of England and biblical criticism in general.
The rest of the book details how various disciplines developed- how they utilized philology-who were the major figures- and what their influence was over time. The author ends the work around 1860. This leaves out some of the most interesting philological discoveries, the archaeological finds in Egypt, the search for many of the so-called treasures of the Egyptians, but most of all, it leaves out the entire battle (if you wish to call it that) between science and and established religion, as exemplified in something like Lux Mundi ( a sort of sequel to Essays & Reviews). The author does not deal really with science- and that is unfortunate- because geology it's methods, habits, ways of seeing things was particularly useful in philological discoveries in England and in Italy. For this a useful resource is Martin Rudwick: Bursting the Limits of Time & Worlds Before Adam (Chicago University Press). An outstanding read.
There are two problems with this work from my perspective. One is that the author really has attempted, despite his best efforts, a task to big - at least for now. The disciplines he covers he covers well- but there are serious lapses, and areas are left out particularly in the beginnings. I think this is understandable considering the growth of the field- but the problem is- and this is something that all specialists face-there are specialized areas that are simply require more space. This means that Dr. Turner faces the problem most researchers face at some time-how much detail is enough for each specific field. Each of these fields now mentioned has grown so large that their origins cannot be completely covered, except in a cursory manner. But as an overview, the book is a real treat. The bibliography is very, very extensive and up-to-date. It covers both primary and secondary literature as it would have to, and is a great place to start and an excellent research tool. I encourage everyone who has the time and interest to read it along the text. You won't be disappointed.
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This excellent book supports Page Flip
This is a scholarly book, with a great many notes and an extensive bibliography. This has long been a problem with Kindle ereaders. The subscripted numbers indicating notes might be linked to the Notes section, but clicking one jumps you to the note, resets your farthest page read, and prevents you from jumping back to your place in the text.As I was reading this ebook, an update occurred, either of the book or the ereader or both, implementing a new feature called Page Flip, which addresses this problem. Clicking the center of your page takes you to a multi-page view of your book. You can scroll forward or backward through the pages, or click a link to take you to a note. A thumbnail of your current page remains in the corner, so that you can return to the page you were reading at any time. There is also an icon that switches you to a nine-page view of the book, so that you can scroll rapidly, looking for a figure or a heading.Page Flip is an excellent feature that I hope becomes more prevalent. The only other ebooks I’ve found in my library that support it are a King James Bible and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, both of which are prime candidates for it.My description here - and the extremely poor photos - are of the Page Flip feature on the Android version of the Kindle ereader. It works on the Kindle Paperwhite also, but not on the Windows 10 version of the app (which doesn’t surprise me).
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Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2014
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2016
As I was reading this ebook, an update occurred, either of the book or the ereader or both, implementing a new feature called Page Flip, which addresses this problem. Clicking the center of your page takes you to a multi-page view of your book. You can scroll forward or backward through the pages, or click a link to take you to a note. A thumbnail of your current page remains in the corner, so that you can return to the page you were reading at any time. There is also an icon that switches you to a nine-page view of the book, so that you can scroll rapidly, looking for a figure or a heading.
Page Flip is an excellent feature that I hope becomes more prevalent. The only other ebooks I’ve found in my library that support it are a King James Bible and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, both of which are prime candidates for it.
My description here - and the extremely poor photos - are of the Page Flip feature on the Android version of the Kindle ereader. It works on the Kindle Paperwhite also, but not on the Windows 10 version of the app (which doesn’t surprise me).
This excellent book supports Page Flip
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2016
This is a scholarly book, with a great many notes and an extensive bibliography. This has long been a problem with Kindle ereaders. The subscripted numbers indicating notes might be linked to the Notes section, but clicking one jumps you to the note, resets your farthest page read, and prevents you from jumping back to your place in the text.Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2016
As I was reading this ebook, an update occurred, either of the book or the ereader or both, implementing a new feature called Page Flip, which addresses this problem. Clicking the center of your page takes you to a multi-page view of your book. You can scroll forward or backward through the pages, or click a link to take you to a note. A thumbnail of your current page remains in the corner, so that you can return to the page you were reading at any time. There is also an icon that switches you to a nine-page view of the book, so that you can scroll rapidly, looking for a figure or a heading.
Page Flip is an excellent feature that I hope becomes more prevalent. The only other ebooks I’ve found in my library that support it are a King James Bible and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, both of which are prime candidates for it.
My description here - and the extremely poor photos - are of the Page Flip feature on the Android version of the Kindle ereader. It works on the Kindle Paperwhite also, but not on the Windows 10 version of the app (which doesn’t surprise me).
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Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2016
Top reviews from other countries
Tombright
Terrific book ... highly recommended.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2019
John
Very very clear synopsis of the creation of the modern humanities!!
Reviewed in Australia on July 8, 2017Amazon Customer
The most important work of intellectual history in a generation.
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2016