Bibliology studies the book from a technical and historical point of view.
The concept of bibliology refers to the discipline focused on the technical and historical analysis of the book . Books, meanwhile, are written works that constitute a volume.
book study
It can be said that bibliology is an area that studies the book as an isolated object and as a member of a group or collection. Unlike bibliography , which is oriented toward description, bibliology examines material characteristics , thematic components , and other issues.
It is important to note, however, that there are different ways of understanding bibliology. Even the definitions of this science have changed over time. In fact, in more than one source we find bibliography and other disciplines or sciences, such as library science, as parts or branches of it.
In its origins, it was common to establish a differentiation between two major currents of bibliology: one that pointed to the production techniques of the book as a material support and another aimed specifically at the contents .
Today, bibliology seeks to develop a broad vision that contemplates the understanding of all the phenomena associated with the emergence and progress of written communication . As you can see, it is no longer about observing only the book, but rather paying attention to any system that uses writing as a communication tool beyond the medium used.
Branches of bibliology
Although above we expressed the main differences between bibliology and bibliography, they are not unrelated concepts. On the contrary, they are complementary, since together they can offer us a more in-depth study of the books . Speaking specifically of bibliography, it focuses on studying, describing and classifying documents to compile the sources that are taken as reference for the completion of a work, or a catalog of books that deal with the same topic.
On the other hand we have library science , a documentary science whose objective is to study the library considering it an information system. The most important aspects of interest in this area are the typology and the different ways in which libraries cooperate, particularly when they form large networks . We can say that library science is responsible for studying the techniques and theoretical basis necessary to manage the library internally, to organize the books and other sources made available to the public, and also to relate to the outside world.
bible study
It cannot be omitted to mention that, beyond these notions associated with bibliology, which coincide with what the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) indicates in its dictionary, it is common for the term to be used with reference to the study of the Bible. . Bibliology, in this sense, is a treatise on the Holy Scriptures .
Bibliology is also the study of the Bible.
The study of the Bible is a much broader discipline than the mere work of analyzing its many passages, since it has different objectives that point to the healthy development of the relationship between Christians and the Church . We must remember that reading is not a very popular activity, and that faith is not always accompanied by deep knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. The problem does not lie in simply not reading them, but in the risk of having a distorted notion of their content and, even worse, professing it.
For bibliology understood in this sense, there are several pillars that govern the study: who wrote it; What topics does it cover? its structure . These three points are also more complex than they seem, since we are talking about a series of books that date back two millennia , and that have been translated and adapted more than once to facilitate their understanding.