Mere Fidelity The Bible: A Technology
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Oct 15, 2025 
Alastair Roberts, a scholar focused on theology and church history, joins to discuss the Bible as a technological medium. They explore how the shift from oral to written culture transformed biblical interpretation and church life. Roberts highlights the Reformation's impact on Scripture accessibility and the communal aspects of Bible engagement. The conversation also touches on the balance between modern technology and tradition, urging believers to internalize Scripture rather than merely use it, emphasizing the importance of collective reading and performance in worship.
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Form Shapes Interpretation
- Texts take different meanings depending on their material form and reading practices.
- The Bible's form (performance vs. print vs. digital) shapes how we should interpret and engage it.
Materiality Made Scripture Communal
- Medieval Bibles shifted readers from hearing Scripture to seeing it, adding navigational apparatus like chapters.
- High material cost made Bibles communal possessions, embedding interpretation in church life.
Printing Altered Authority
- The printing press enabled private ownership of Scripture and shifted the Bible's bearer from church to book.
- That technological shift helped fuel the Reformation's ad fontes impulse.
