Historical bible criticism attempts to establish the historical milieu of a document. This involves many things and various disciplines, such as linguistics, sociology, anthropology, and comparative literature studies of various kinds. Certainly, it is important to establish the time, place, events, persons, general milieu, and sources. All of this is necessary in order to help the reader understand this literary document. The contemporary experience of reality should help to establish the meaning and significance of ancient texts, even though these ancient texts had a worldview different from that of the modern world.
a document
Papyrus and paper
Papyrus usually refers to a document written on sheets joined together side by side. Papyrus was like thick paper, so that people could write on it. The papyrus sheets came from the inner bark of the papyrus plant. Normally, they would roll these parchments into a scroll. This was the early form of a book. The Greek origins come for this word for papyrus, βύβλος was similar to the Greek word for a book. Thus, the English term ‘paper’ is derived from papyrus.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 