The Earliest Christian Artifacts PDF
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The Earliest Christian Artifacts The Earliest Christian Artifacts MANUSCRIPTS AND CHRISTIAN ORIGINS Larry W. Hurtado WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, U.K. © 2006 Larry W. Hurtado All rights reserved Published 2006 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 / P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K. Printed in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 07 06 7 6 5 4 3 21 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hurtado, Larry W., 1943- The earliest Christian artifacts: manuscripts and Christian origins / Larry W. Hurtado. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-10: 0-8028-2895-7 / ISBN-13: 978-0-8028-2895-8 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Christian literature, Early — Manuscripts. 2. Christianity — Origin. I. Title. BR62.H87 2006 27O.I — dC22 2006022843 www.eerdmans.com To Professor Edwin Judge and other colleagues and friends in the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University, with gratitude for kindness and generosity during my time as Visiting Fellow of the University, April-May 2005 CONTENTS PREFACE Viii ABBREVIATIONS xii Introduction 1 1. The Texts 15 2. The Early Christian Preference for the Codex 43 3. The Nomina Sacra 95 4. The Staurogram 135 5. Other Scribal Features 155 Concluding Remarks 191 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 193 APPENDIX 1: Christian Literary Texts in Manuscripts of the Second and Third Centuries 209 APPENDIX 2: Photographic Plates of Selected Manuscripts 231 INDEX OF AUTHORS 243 INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS 245 vii PREFACE W henever I had hesitation about the value of writing this book, I found myself repeatedly energized over the last year through occa sional conversations with a number of scholars in New Testament and Christian origins (including some senior ones). When I was asked about what I was working on during my year-long research leave, and I re sponded that I was writing a book on the wider historical importance of early Christian manuscripts, the result was usually a blank stare, and a re quest to illustrate specifically what things I had in mind. They then charac teristically were surprised to learn that our earliest manuscripts already at test efforts at punctuation, larger sense-unit demarcation, and a curiously strong preference for the codex, especially for biblical writings. And they were often intrigued that these matters might have interesting implica tions for familiar historical questions about early Christianity. I have the strong impression that the material discussed in this book is not as well known as it deserves to be among scholars in the field. Thus one of my key aims here is to draw attention to an important body of data that is often overlooked. But I have attempted to do more than introduce and review what oth ers have said. My aim here is also to advance the discussion of a number of particular matters, which I hope will be of further benefit to those who may already be reasonably well informed about these topics. I offer this discussion in grateful response to those whose scholarly work on early manuscripts has been of such stimulation and benefit to me in doing the research embodied in this book. Thanks to a semester of research leave granted by the University of Ed- viii Preface inburgh, and a further period of research leave funded by the Arts and Hu manities Research Council (AHRC), I was able to have the full year of 2005 free from teaching and administrative duties to complete the research for this book and to write it. I am, indeed, very grateful for this period of re search leave, and I hope that what I offer here will help to demonstrate the usefulness to scholarship of affording such extended times for research/ writing projects. In the spring of 2005,1 was able to spend several weeks in Macquarie University as a Visiting Fellow, which substantially advanced the research for this book. This visit enabled extended collaboration with colleagues there in the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre (AHDRC), particularly those involved in the project on Papyri from the Rise of Chris tianity in Egypt (PRCE). I was also permitted free and full access to their copious files on early Christian manuscripts. Professor Alanna Nobbs nominated me for this appointment, and I want to register here my grati tude to her and to Macquarie University for that splendid opportunity to advance my knowledge of things papyrological. In addition to Alanna, I also want to single out Dr. Don Barker and Dr. Malcolm Choat, who gave me generously their time and expertise. Professor Samuel Lieu (co- director of the AHDRC) also took a friendly interest in my research. Moreover, they kindly provided me with a computing station in the Centre, and comfortable lodging for me and my wife during our stay. Don Barker and his wife took us on a delightful day trip out to the Blue Moun tains, and Alanna thoughtfully arranged several lunchtime occasions to meet additional colleagues in Macquarie. Sam Lieu took my wife and me along with graduate students for a very enjoyable dinner in a Chinese res taurant, where he expertly ordered superb delicacies for the party. All these colleagues also showed up for a lovely farewell dinner toward the end of our stay. In our whole time "down under," we felt warmly welcomed and kindly treated. A further personal pleasure for me in my time in Sydney was the op portunity to confer with Professor Edwin Judge, the founding father of the Centre and the PRCE project. Among his publications, several have been of special direct benefit to students of Christian origins, since his ground breaking volume, The Social Pattern of Christian Groups in the First Cen tury (i960). He and the other PRCE staff kindly included me in several ses sions in which we discussed the shape, aims, and format of their impressive project, which is to produce a descriptive catalogue of all papyri ix
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