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Abstract

Religious institutions and faith communities should recognize and acknowledge the nature of sacred texts as constantly changing and renewing resources, and societies should recognize and acknowledge human ways of committing to sacred texts and their claims. We call for an understanding of the processes by which certain texts became and become to be distinguished as special or sacred and of the consequences of such commitments. This article explores Jewish/Judean manuscript culture at the turn of the era when ideas of sacred texts started to be formed; this offers possibilities of reflection of modern processes. Sacred texts are not only conceptualized as divine speech or divinely inspired writings. Our investigation offers three areas of study needed to analyse the functioning of sacred texts in the past and the present: the material mediation of texts, the role of the community and its ritual life, and changes in content and interpretation.