The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins

264 Pages·2010·6.8 MB·English

by  Larry W. Hurtado

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