Beyond the Image-Text Divide. In Search of a Multidimensional Approach to Compare Visual Artifacts and Biblical Texts (original) (raw)

2024, Challenging Dichotomies and Biases in the Study of the Ancient Southern Levant (Die Welt des Orients, Supplementary Issue), ed. Bruno Biermann, Silas Klein Cardoso, Fabio Porzia and Christoph Uehlinger

https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666560972.19

As an interartistic effort, the comparison between visual artifacts and biblical texts is necessarily founded on tenets set by researchers. The task has thus been driven by theological, historical, anthropological, phenomenological, and textual concerns under different frameworks. In this regard, the last #y years saw remarkable advancements in pairing evidence within closer chronological and geographical frames, understanding the use, function, and meaning of southern Levantine media, and applying contemporary theories to the ancient evidence. However, while the verbal and non-verbal codes are well-addressed by modern approaches, the challenge of considering artifacts in their entirety remains whether they are seals, figurines, or (biblical) manuscripts and inscriptions. From a hybrid communicological/social-semiotic approach and using southern Levantine material as examples, this paper discusses how to compare verbal and non-verbal artifacts considering their codes and their vessels and communicative contexts. The aim is to propose a critical framework that considers artifacts, from selection to juxtaposition.