Global Philology：An International Lecture Series

Scribal Culture in Church Slavonic

Speaker: Prof. Florentina Badalanova Geller, Senior Researcher at the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

Moderator: Prof. Martin Kern, Professor in Asian Studies at Princeton University

Time: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 20:00-22:00 (GMT+8)

Zoom ID: 922 3991 6850

Code：1111

ZOOM Link:

https://zoom.us/j/92239916850?pwd=MnhBaGxZY1ZpQ3BGMWovRHR1U0h2QT09

Introduction of the Speaker:

Prof. Florentina Badalanova Geller is Senior Researcher at the Royal Anthropological Institute in the Anthropology Library and Research Centre of the British Museum, Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies of the University College London, Research Fellow at Max Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Berlin), and Selma Stern Zentrum für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg. She studies Early Christianity, Folk Religion, Slavonic Parabiblical Traditions, Transmission of Knowledge in Old Church Salvonic, and Enoch literature. Her various publications include Qur’ān in Vernacular: Folk Islam in the Balkans (2008), The Slavonic Apocalypse of Enoch: Text and Context (2010), Kniga Sushchaia v Ustakh: Fol’klornaia Bibliia Bessarabskikh i Tavricheskikh Bolgar [Holy Writ by Word of Mouth: the Folk Bible of the Bulgarian Diaspora in Bessarabia and Taurida] (2017).

Abstract:

In order to translate the Biblical corpus into the language of the neophytes for liturgical purposes, the Slavonic alphabet was created in the 9th century. As such, the writing system was designed as a scriptura sacra sui generis. It underwent two graphemic renditions, the Glagolitic script and the Cyrillic script. This talk analyses the earliest stages of Old Church Slavonic scribal tradition, during which not only was the translation of the canonical Biblical corpus accomplished, but which also commenced the creation of autochthonous literature. In addition, Prof. Geller will focus on some specific characteristics of the Church Slavonic intellectual landscape and literary heritage, as well as philological practices.

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2 Mathiesen_A_New_Reconstruction_of_the_Original

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