Beyond the Book: Authenticating the Profane

This lecture considers the question of canon and authorization. What constitutes canon and when was it constituted? What about new texts that were discovered that were not included into canons that were shaped centuries after these until-now texts were known? Should we or can we authenticate new texts or texts that were not known to be part of the canon? What about texts that were rejected from the canon? How and why might we reconsider the status of texts - and can we authenticate such texts that would otherwise be considered profane? How might we rethink “marginal” texts, the translation of the profane and the sacred, and the constitution of “canon”?

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