Western Washington University

06/11/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 06/11/2026 16:42

Global Humanities and Religions’ Daniel Picus publishes new work on the study of ancient texts

Global Humanities and Religions' Daniel Picus publishes new work on the study of ancient texts

June 11, 2026

Daniel Picus, an associate professor in Western's Department of Global Humanities and Religions, recently co-edited a special issue of a scholarly journal devoted to the workings of the central practice in philology: interpreting ancient texts.

Picus co-edited Philological Encounters' June issue, "The Critical Edition in the Infrastructure of Philology," with J. Gregory Given, a preceptor in the Harvard College Writing Program at Harvard University.

In their introductory essay "The Critical Edition as Technology: a View from Biblical Studies," Picus and Given explore the importance - and shortcomings - of critical editions, which are scholarly volumes that draw from original manuscripts and provide judgements about which versions constitute the best, most accurate reading.

Picus and Given argue that shortcomings of critical editions draw valuable attention to what they call the infrastructure of scholarly work: the people, institutions and technology involved in producing our knowledge of the past.

Picus is a specialist in late antique Judaism and Christianity. He is interested in religious practices and rituals that center around reading and texts: not just how ancient Jews and Christians read the Bible in an interpretive context, but how they made meaning with it through ritual, practice, liturgy, and ethical formation.

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