Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus: A Window into Early Christian Reading Practices PDF
Preview Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus: A Window into Early Christian Reading Practices
w Communal reading and the New Testament r i g Much of the contemporary discussion of the Jesus tradition has focused on aspects of oral h performance, storytelling, and social memory, on the premise that the communal reading t CommunAl of written texts was a second century CE and later phenomenon. Brian J. Wright over- turns that premise by examining evidence that demonstrates its practice and prevalence in the first century. reAding Praise for Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus “Scholars of the New Testament and early Christianity should take notice!” in the time Charles e. hill “I commend Wright for bringing this to our attention.” of Jesus stanley e. Porter “A thorough study of an important topic.” i C riChard BauCkham n o “A missing piece in the puzzle.” t m Brian s. rosner h m “A must read.” e Craig l. BlomBerg u t n “Seminal.” i d. a. Carson m A l e “Innovative.” thomas r. sChreiner r o e f “A highly important work.” A BruCe W. Winter J d e “Wide-ranging and groundbreaking.” s i n Craig s. keener u g s “His results demand a reconsideration of the whole process.” Wayne a. meeks “This changes a lot of what we think.” miChael F. Bird A window into eArly Religion / New Testament ChristiAn reAding PrACtiCes BriAn J. wright Praise for Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus “The last few decades have witnessed a substantial move away from picturing the early church studying texts to assuming that most Christians could not read: orality trumped written text. Various efforts to balance the evidence have collided with one another. Enter this groundbreaking work by Brian J. Wright, who demonstrates how common ‘communal reading events’ were in both Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts. Readingandhearing aresuddenly notsofar removedfromeachotherassomehavethought.Wright’srichlysup- pliedevidencefromprimarysourcesisconvincing;onewonderswhy these things have not been brought to light before. Wright’s results are important, indeed seminal, not only to those who work in this field, but to our knowledge of early Christians who give every sign of being book-driven believers.” D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School “A truly worthwhile, wide-ranging, and groundbreaking work! Unlike most publications, this book fills what was a genuine and essential gap in our knowledge of antiquity relevant to the New Testament. Although subsequent scholarship regularly debates some conclusionsofanyinnovativework,itremainsindebtedtothefoun- dations that such a work lays. This book exhibits careful method- ology and thorough engagement with both primary and secondary sources.” Craig S. Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary “B. J. Wright’s masterly discussion of the communal reading of ancient texts, facilitated by an exhaustive analysis of twenty Greco- Roman authors from the first-century CE and the Jewish literature, is the bedrock for his investigation of the New Testament writings. Theauthor’sauthoritativeanalysisoftheNewTestamentdocuments demonstrates substantial continuities with ancient writers as far as communal reading practice, the strict control over literary tradition, and the broad spectrum of society involved in these public oral performances of texts from diverse geographic communities. This groundbreakingdiscussionprovidesanotherimportantpillarinargu- ments for the reliability of the New Testament oral and literary tra- dition.” James R. Harrison, Research Director, Sydney College of Divinity “This is a thorough study of an important topic, demonstrating that communal reading events were ubiquitous in the first-century world in general and in the early Christian movement in particular. Vir- tually everybody, it seems, would often hear texts read aloud. There areimportantimplicationsforthemuch-discussed relationship ofthe oral and the textual in early Christianity. Texts were more available and more stable than we may have thought.” Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at the University of St. Andrews “Communal reading has clearly been a neglected factor in under- standing ancient literate culture. Recent attention to questions of lit- eracy indicates that communal reading was an important part of the cultural experience of texts, as Brian J. Wright so ably shows in his extensive survey of the ancient evidence, biblical and otherwise. I commend Wright for bringing this to our attention, and, by doing so, for opening up areas for further exploration regarding how texts were used, how traditions were transmitted, and how ancients com- municated.” Stanley E. Porter, President, Dean, and Professor of New Testament, McMaster Divinity College “People of all kinds regularly read their and others’ compositions aloud in public in the ancient Mediterranean world at the time of Jesus. Christians regularly read the Hebrew Scriptures, along with their own literature in similar fashion. Public declamation regularly stemmed from or produced careful preservation of texts, sometimes from memory. Wright comprehensively surveys all this material, mounting an impressive case for all kinds of checks and balances in the preservation of early Christian tradition. A must read for anyone who still thinks that this tradition was largely uncontrolled and con- stantly distorted.” Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary “A focused presentation of the data relating to ‘communal reading events’ in antiquity has been long overdue, and Brian J. Wright’s important research on this subject is to be much welcomed. Commu- nal Reading in the Time of Jesus demonstrates just how common the oral recitation of written texts was, in a wide variety of social envi- ronments,inthefirst-century,Greco-Romanworld.Ithelpsuscom- prehendthelargerculturalcontextforthepublicreadingofChristian (and Jewish) Scriptures, and shows that audiences, at times, could even act as stabilizing forces on written texts that were read repeat- edlyincommunal settings. Scholars ofthe NewTestament andearly Christianity should take notice!” Charles E. Hill, Richardson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, Reformed Theological Seminary “BrianJ.Wrighthasshedlightonimportantaspectsoftexts,reading, and literacy in the Roman Empire that are unknown to most inter- preters of Christian Scripture. Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus will go a long way toward remedying this problem. I am delighted to recommend this important book.” Craig A. Evans, John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins, Houston Baptist University “‘Haven’t you heard?’ Jesus asked the crowd, assuming the Law had been read to them. How widespread was public reading and how mayithaveaffectedthepreservationanddisseminationoftheChrist- ianmessage?BysurveyingandanalyzingnumerousGreekandLatin texts, Brian Wright throws fresh light on the practice and underlines itsrelevanceforthestudyofearlyChristiansocietyandespeciallythe composition of the Gospels. Through communal reading, he argues, people would know those texts and be alert to any changes readers mighttrytointroduce.Thisisanotableadditiontoknowledgeabout books and reading in the earliest churches.” Alan Millard, Rankin Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages, The University of Liverpool “Why did early Christians write? When and where did they read? What did reading mean in the social contexts and practices of the first century? Meticulously sifting a wide range of evidence, Wright introduces us to ‘a complex, multifaceted cultural field’ that shaped that reading. His results demand a reconsideration of the whole process by which texts were controlled and, eventually, a canon emerged.” Wayne A. Meeks, Woolsey Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Yale University “In this innovative study, Brian J. Wright brings to the forefront a matter that has been neglected in New Testament studies, namely, theroleofcommunalreadinginthefirstcentury.Wright’sthorough analysis has implications for our understanding of literacy in the first century, gospel traditions, and the preservation of texts. We can be grateful for a work that opens new vistas in the study of both the ancient world and the New Testament.” Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary “Ever since the publication in the 1960s of Gerhardsson’s ground- breaking work, Memory and Manuscript with Tradition and Transmis- sion in Early Christianity, there have not been significant advances in this highly important area of study until this highly important work ofBrianJ.Wright.Hehasdemonstratedforthefirsttimetheimpor- tance of communal reading in the Greco-Roman world during the first-century CE and its relevance for the reading of the New Testa- ment corpus for the first Christians.” Bruce W. Winter, Senior Research Fellow in Ancient History, Macquarie University, and former Warden, Tyndale House, Cambridge “Brian J. Wright’s compelling claim is that literacy rates were much higher than normally assumed and reading communities were far more prevalent than usually supposed. If he is correct—and broadly I think he is—this changes a lot of what we think about textuality, book culture, and the preservation of texts in early Christianity.” Michael F. Bird, Lecturer in Theology, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia “I have spent a lot of time working on the issue of the movement from event to gospel wrestling with how orality and tradition worked in the interim. The idea of communal reading and its role wasnotonmyradarscreen.Notanymore.Thisstudyintroducesand takes a close look at a category that is very helpful in thinking about howmaterialwaspassedoninaprimarilyoralandauralcontext.This is a fine study that deserves a reflective read.” Darrell L. Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary “Studies of the Jesus tradition and its transmission in the first century operateundermanyassumptions.BrianJ.Wright’sexcellentstudyof literacy and the practice of communal reading is a missing piece in the puzzle and has keen relevance to historical reconstructions of the natureoftheearliestchurchesaswellasthestoryofcanonformation and textual transmission.” Brian S. Rosner, Principal, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus A Window into Early Christian Reading Practices BRIAN J. WRIGHT FORTRESS PRESS MINNEAPOLIS
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