This book examines the role books played in shaping the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions in the ancient world. Each tradition is associated with certain holy books--the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, or the Qur'an. In this collection of essays the contributors consider how new technologies, new materials, and new cultural encounters allowed these books to spread, to become authoritative, and to profoundly shape three global religions. Experienced scholars from a variety of academic fields, consider what it means to treat books as material objects rather than as repositories for stories and texts. -- !c From publisher's description.