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The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins

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The stage needs to be set. Hurtado argues that it is hard to identify any art, architecture, epigraphical evidence or whatever before 200 CE/AD. The earliest building dates to the middle of the third century. Manuscripts that can be dated with any confidence are dated to the third century. However there are some 400 papyri that can be dated to the time before the official recognition of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine. A growing number can be dated to the second century. Hurtado claims it is these which are the earliest Christian artifacts, and he focuses not on textual criticism but what can be found in the texts.

It is a fluke of history that most of the earliest Christian manuscripts come from Egypt due to the weather. Of these it appears that many came from a refuse dump of an ancient city called Oxyrhynchus. Thousands of manuscripts have been found there deposited over six centuries. Do these reflect broader Christian use? Hurtado does not intend to treat early Christian preferences monolithically, but he does argue that there are sufficient reasons for treating the manuscript evidence from Egypt as being practiced widely. For example, Christian networking brought a copy of Iranaeus' Against Heresies from Lyon to Oxyrhynchus within a few years.

The most outstanding feature of Christian manuscripts is that they are codex in form. A codex is unlike a rolled scroll. A codex is folded leaves attached by binding materials much like modern books. Christians did not invent the codex but by the second century, over 70 per cent of Christian writings were codices compared to only 5 per cent of the total number of manuscripts. It has been argued that Christians preferred the codex for such reasons as the expense of writing. However large margins do not indicate a writer concerned about saving costs. Hurtado argues that the Christian preference for the codex was heavy and early and reflected a belief that the text had "scriptural status."

In addition to a codex format, early Christians added other characteristics to their manuscripts, nomina sacra and the staurogram. Nomina sacra are typically abbreviations composed of the first and last letter of a word. Those used with far greater regularity are God, Lord, Christ, and Jesus. This early practice is connected to the Jewish practice of treating the divine name in a special way. Hurtado notes that at an early stage Christ and Jesus were put on the same plane as God and Lord. The staurogram is a compendium formed by superimposing a Greek rho over a Greek tau. In later Christianity the chi-rho became better known. Hurtado believes that the cross over the T formation was a visual reference for the early Christian to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Very early Christians chose a particular format for their sacred writings and implanted into them code devices of their own faith.

If, like me, you find the study of New Testament textual criticism somewhat less than thrilling, you might enjoy this new study by Professor Larry Hurtado. Prof. Hurtado focuses on a neglected aspect of New Testament studies: the ancient manuscripts as artifacts. This involves a number of features, such as the physical form of the manuscript (the codex, the roll, and opisthograph), corrections and mistakes in copying, words that were emphasized in certain ways, and the location of the manuscript. These "artifactual" features of the texts give insight into the early Christian movement.

While it doesn't appear that more intense study of early Christian manuscripts will lead to any bombshells for the study of Christian origins, Prof. Hurtado's findings and conclusions are interesting. Consider the question of gnosticism. The "Gnostic" Christians didn't make extensive use of John's Gospel. In fact, it was more popular among the "orthodox" Christians. In addition, it doesn't appear that any apocryphal Gospel texts were physically attached to the canonical Gospels.

A study of the ancient texts raises a number of questions as well. For example, most ancient manuscripts from the time of the NT texts are in roll form, however the early Christians preferred the codex (the precursor to our books) for reasons that remain unclear. In addition, the number of manuscripts of certain NT works - such as Hebrews, and Revelation - is quite interesting in light of later controversies that developed surrounding them. I saw surprised to learn that there are more copies of the Shepherd of Hermas than almost any NT book.

Prof. Hurtado provides an interesting case study of the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas. Although any conclusions are preliminary given that only three manuscripts are extant, a study of them tends to indicate that it wasn't viewed as scripture (at least by those groups connected to the manuscripts).

Hurtado has written a number of brilliant books on the subject of earliest Christianity. Now he asks an obvious question: why not consider all the evidence?

There are some 400 Christian related pieces of papyri dated to before Constantine. From the second and third centuries we have 12 fragments of Matthew, 1 of Mark, 7 of Luke, 16 of John, and 7 of Acts, 4 of Hebrews, not to mention many others. Hermas, for example, is well represented.
Why is this evidence so rarely used?

Investigating the subject, Hurtado makes many interesting points. While the orthodox Christian writings seem to have been transmitted with great care, the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas "was transmitted with a noticeable fluidity in contents and arrangement" (p 34).

It appears that Paul's epistles were bound together in codex form sometime around 100 and "this edition of Pauline epistles was prepared with a concern for textual accuracy" (p 39), as Zuntz has argued. Hurtado wonders if this might have been one of the reasons the early Christians preferred the codex to the roll. Various scholars have suggested other reasons the codex was preferred. It might have been less costly, held more text, or perhaps it was simply a familiar form, as an early missionary carried a traveling codex. Hurtado can only suggest the possibilities; no one can yet give a reason for the Christian preference for the codex.

The nomina sacra is yet one more textual mystery. Christian scribes abbreviated the first and final letters of some word, something like a contraction. It is likely that "the abbreviation of Jesus' name as lH arose from early Christian piety" (p 118). The tau-rho is yet another example of Christian piety and seems to have spread widely and quickly among scribes.

Aspects that cry for greater investigation: Christian manuscripts were also unusual in the amount of reader's aids. Does this indicate aid to gospels being read liturgically? What can be gleaned about the meaning and importance of how the early Christians read the gospels based upon these aids?

Written by Larry W. Hurtado (Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland), The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins covers an oft-overlooked aspect of the study of ancient canonical and extracanonical Christian texts. Rather that discuss interpretations of what the words of the texts say, The Earliest Christian Artifacts focuses upon the stories of the physical texts themselves. Chapters discuss the staturogram, which was possibly the first ever representation of the cross; the textual abbreviation system of the "nomina sacra"; and the historical curiosity of Christian preference for book-like texts rather than scrolls. A bibliography and extensive appendix round out this scholarly examination of the origins, history, and modern-day physical remnants of ancient writings that utterly transformed the known world.

Professor Hurtado has produced a scholarly work probing the preference of early Christians for the codex system and their use of "tau-rho". Much of this material may be obscure for those unfamiliar with this field, but for those familiar with a limited level Greek (at least the ability to recognize Greek characters and pronouciation skills), along with minimal knowledge of Textual Criticism and manuscript issues - they will find this treatise enjoyable and intriguing.

It is important to raise the point that this is a book for scholars and serious students. If you just want to learn a little about the New Testament documents, this is not really the place to start. Hurtado's real strength here is his willingness to ask questions that he does not have all of the answers to. Some might view this as a weakness, but instead this is a case of academic honesty and a serious interest to advance the field. He clearly states in the introduction that he hopes that his book will provoke some interest in Christian manuscripts as a physical source in themselves beyond just what is written upon them. Through many instances of asking the right questions (and not always providing good answers) Hurtado does a fantastic job of setting out some of the possibilities for the future study of Christian manuscripts as evidence in themselves. He begins with a basic introduction laying out what we all have in terms of Christian manuscripts from the second and third centuries, and is careful to include non-canonical texts.

The core of the book is Hurtado's discussion about the use of codices in Christian documents. Since early Christian texts show up in codices far more frequently than other documents, he reasons that there is probably a good reason for this. This particular topic is one that has been raised before, and Hurtado does an excellent job of engaging with previous scholarship. In particular, his dismissal of the argument that codices were chosen by early Christian communities for economic reasons are exceptionally good.

The next two chapters deal with the 'nomina sacra' and the staurogram, both scribal features found in the texts themselves. Hurtado draws some interesting parallels to Jewish scribal practice in the case of the former. His scholarship is meticulous, and he wisely chooses to tread carefully around the Jewish parallels rather than jumping upon them as they appear to make an easy link, and Hurtado needs to be commended for that. The staurogram chapter is even less conclusive, but remains important, as it does appear to be independently attested in multiple stemmata of manuscripts, and thus cannot be ignored. Whether or not this is a serious attempt to portray a crucified figure is never fully explained, but again, that is not entirely Hurtado's purpose in this book. He wants to interest people so that these documents will get more study in the future, and he sets up a convincing case that the staurogram cannot be ignored. Following this, book ends with a short conclusion and contains an excellent appendix. This appendix set out in table form the text, scholarly identification, date, material, form and frequently some brief comments on about 250 Christian texts.

This is a fantastic book, although one for a more serious audience. Hurtado carefully engages with current scholarship, and sets his work up to inspire more of it. It is not a difficult read, either, and is not full of so much technical jargon that it is unreadable. Additionally, the appendix at the back is well-worth the purchase price of the entire book.

I think I"m the wrong audience for this title. It sounded soooo interesting, but when I could barely make it through the first 30 pages. This book is definitely written for the academic. It reminded of a Doctoral thesis.

Artifacts and their importance are excellently reviewed and discussed in written materials from the earliest papyri and documents in regard to Christianity.