Gamble, Harry Y. Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early
Christian Texts. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995. ISBN:
0-300-06024-6 (cloth); 0-300-06918-9 (paper). Pp. xiv+337. US $35.00
(cloth).
1. "For I did not think that I could get so much profit from the contents of
books as from the utterances of a living and abiding voice" (Papias). Some
scholars have used these words to bolster their claims that earliest
Christianity as a whole did not highly esteem the writings even of
acknowledged apostles and leaders of the church, perhaps expecting an
imminent eschaton. Others, and especially more conservative scholars,
believe that from the beginning the written words of important Christian
figures were treasured and passed on with the greatest degree of regard and
fidelity. Harry Gamble sets out to address the questions and suppositions
that lie behind these views (and others somewhere along the continuum
between these two) in his Books and Readers in the Early Church. His book is
a history of Christian texts in the first five centuries rather than of
Christian literature during that period, since he is more interested in the
reception, reading, copying, archiving, and dissemination of texts than in
their prehistory, composition, and interrelationships. Another difference
from typical treatments of the subject is that Gamble is not content to
examine the early Christian references to reading, writing, and copying of
texts; he expands his field of view to include the whole phenomenon of
literacy and literary production the Greco-Roman world.
2. Gamble first addresses the question of literacy in the early church.
Since Christianity originated in a Greco-Roman context, it is reasonable to
assume that the typical Christian church was a reflection of the surrounding
society in terms of education, literacy, and attitudes toward written texts,
but Gamble recognizes that Christianity's roots in Judaism, as well as its
own special concerns, preclude overgeneralization. Studies indicate that
literacy in the ancient world in which Christianity was born usually hovered
around ten percent of the population, never exceeding fifteen or twenty
percent. This low rate of literacy does not imply, however, that the
population as a whole had no interaction at all with written texts. On the
contrary, public readings of famous authors' works were popular, as was the
staging of plays. Christians inherited from their Jewish forebears a respect
for written testimonies of their faith, although their distaste for "things
pagan" kept many out of the Greco-Roman schools, based as they were on pagan
texts. Chistians who held positions of responsibility in the early church
were certainly expected to be able to read, and new converts often advanced
quickly up the ecclesiastical ladder because of their literary abilities,
sometimes (according to their critics) without being fully grounded in
matters of doctrine. The almost ubiquitous appeal in early Christian
writings to Jewish scriptures suggests that converts, Jew and Gentile alike,
were expected to be familiar with them (perhaps in the form of testimonia),
another indication of the importance of at least these books in the early
church.
3. Should early Christian writings be considered literature or as transitory
works designed for use only in a particular historical setting? Gamble looks
at these positions and finds both wanting. While early Christian writers
might not have been self-consciously creating Hochliteratur, there are many
indications that they intended for their works to be copied and used by
people other than the original recipients. Adolf Deissmann's famous dictum
that early Christian works were written in popular, colloquial Greek
(Deissmann 1978: 69-72) must now be modified to recognize that these
writings are written in the professional prose of the day. Early Christian
letters are similar to official and philosophical letters, and the gospels
are similar to other Greco-Roman biographical literature.
4. Gamble's evaluation concerning the place of early Christian writings
within their larger Greco-Roman context is both informative and convincing,
for the most part. His suggestion that a literacy rate of about ten percent
was probably typical for Christian congregations in the first few centuries
is believable despite an obvious predilection for both Jewish and Christian
texts among Christians, since most members of the congregation would have
acquired their knowledge of these writings through public rather than
individual reading. His comparison of Christian writings with contemporary
professional works (particularly those associated with philosophical
schools, which had similar apologetic and hortatory goals) is also
enlightening, although one must question whether the Greek of most of the
New Testament, filled as it is with Semitisms, can really be considered
completely on a par with even the relaxed Greek of technical writers.
Nevertheless, the quality of the Greek of the New Testament (with a couple
of exceptions) is closer to that of the professionals than to that used in
less formal communications and notes written on both papyrus and ostraca.
5. Gamble begins his second chapter, "The Early Christian Book," with the
following insightful comment:
By observing precisely how the text was laid out, how it was
written, and what it was written on or in one has access not only
to the technical means of its production but also, since these are
the signs of intended and actual uses, to the social attitudes,
motives, and contexts that sustained its life and shaped its
meaning. From this perspective a clean distinction between textual
history and the history of literature is neither possible nor
desirable [p. 43].
Early Christian books are almost exclusively codices rather than rolls, and
the acceptance of the codex in the Roman empire was clearly the result of
Christians' use of this form of the book. Originally used to hold
non-literary items such as notes and sketches, codices were used by the
early church to hold more permanent works as well. It is unlikely that
Christians were the first to use codices in this manner, however, since a
similar use is mentioned by Martial in the late first century. Why did the
church choose the codex as its preferred medium for transcribing its most
important writings? Gamble finds the suggestions that have been offered to
date--the codex was more economical, since writing was on both sides of the
page; it was more convenient to use than a roll; sayings of Jesus were
recorded in codex notebooks and then transferred to codex
gospels--unconvincing, and he offers his own proposal. Following the lead of
Edgar Goodspeed (Goodspeed 1926: 20-32), he suggests that Paul's letters
were the earliest to be collected and copied as a group and that they were
copied in codex form. The use of the codex implies that, though the earliest
Christians thought highly of Paul's letters, they did not consider them
equivalent to the scriptures they had inherited from Judaism, which were
transmitted on rolls. Other indications that the church saw their own
writings as practical rather than authoritative (i.e., on a par with the
Jewish scriptures) are the use of the less formal "documentary hand" rather
than the more formal "bookhand" in codices before the fourth century, the
abbreviation of numbers, and the enlarging of initial letters in sections.
6. Gamble says that early Christians apparently produced their own books
rather than relying on professional scribes. This statement is supported by
several considerations: the high number of corruptions in early manuscripts;
unusual features (fewer letters per line than normal, fewer lines per page,
heavy use of accents and breathing marks) that suggest that several
manuscripts were intended for use in public worship; use of contracted
nomina sacra. In regard to this last phenomenon, Gamble offers an
interesting proposal for the development of the use of nomina sacra in
Christian writings. Noting that Jewish Greek manuscripts used Hebrew or
Aramaic script for transcribing the Tetragrammaton, Christian scribes
copying the Old Testament substituted kurios (a reading tradition
in the Greek synagogues?) but contracted it to retain a graphical
differentiation from the surrounding text. When Christian scribes copied New
Testament manuscripts, they followed the same procedure of contracting
kurios, and they likewise began to contract qeos,
Ihsous, and Xristos (the latter two under the
influence of a high Christology). The final step in the process was that
Christian scribes, forgetting the original tie to the Tetragrammaton, began
abbreviating other significant words in their manuscripts, including
"David," "Jerusalem," "Spirit," "cross," and "heaven."
7. Gamble's observation that the form of Christian books tells us something
about Christian attitudes toward those books is an important one, largely
overlooked in other studies. His assertion that it is "nearly certain" that
the introduction of the codex as the distinctive Christian form of the book
was associated with the letters of Paul (p. 63) is perhaps an overstatement,
but his is certainly a good hypothesis. One can, of course, argue with
certain details of his proposal. For example, his claim that the order of
the Pauline epistles as well as the number was determined by their
incorporation into the codex (p. 63) is not supported by the evidence, which
seems rather to support the parallel circulation of Pauline codices that
contained at least three different orderings of the letters. His overall
argument seems solid, however. Gamble's outline of the development of the
nomina sacra raises interesting questions that should be taken up in other
settings. Did Greek synagogues really have a reading tradition of
pronouncing kurios for the Tetragrammaton? What are the
implications of the early use of nomina sacra for the development of a high
Christology? What are the implications of a "low" view of Christian writings
in the first three centuries for the study of the New Testament text?
8. The third chapter, "The Publication and Circulation of Early Christian
Literature," is the centerpiece of the book, and it is of special importance
to text critics. Gamble begins by describing the publication of a typical
Greco-Roman text. When an author was ready to release his work, he would let
his friends know, and they would make their own personal copies of the work.
Their copies would likewise be borrowed by others for copying. Some
particularly important works might be deposited in a library, where the
general public (or at least privileged members of the public) could have
access and make their own copies. The book might even be offered to a
bookseller, who would make several copies for his buyers. No concept of
copyright existed in the ancient world; authors hoped to make a living not
from the sale of their books but from the patronage that might arise from
their writings being noticed by the right person. Before mass-production
scriptoria, which did not become common until the early medieval period, the
primary way that Christian works, too, were transmitted was by this type of
private publication.
9. Evidence exists that many books of the New Testament were intended to be
copied and circulated among the faithful, and perhaps even to interested
non-Christians. Several Pauline letters mention other letters of his or give
instructions for copying the present letter. The book of Revelation was a
self-conscious literary production, warning its readers not to impede its
circulation and exhorting them to guard the integrity of the book by careful
transmission. Letters addressed to groups of people, like James and 1 Peter,
were also apparently intended to be copied and circulated in at least a
limited geographical area, and perhaps more widely. The gospels themselves
were surely intended not merely for a single audience but for more
widespread reading.
10. Many early Christian writers, following the common practice of the day,
kept copies of their own letters that they wrote both to individuals and to
groups of people. Gamble suggests that Paul probably followed this practice.
It is certain that the Shepherd of Hermas and the letters of Ignatius
existed in multiple copies from the beginning (Hermas is ordered in a vision
to make two copies of the work, in addition to his own copy; Polycarp
mentions in a letter that he has a number [maybe all] of Ignatius' letters).
Other early Christian writers such as Irenaeus and Rufinus also gave
instructions for the dissemination of their works, including the collation
of copies against the original, presumably kept by the author himself. The
writings of Cyprian were so popular that they were sold commercially after
his death.
11. There is evidence already in the second century that Christians
"corrected" the works they copied according to certain stylistic and
theological criteria. Some writers accused the "heterodox" of corrupting
their works, although Bart Ehrman has demonstrated convincingly that the
"orthodox" engaged in similar practices (Ehrman 1993: passim) (Gamble points
to the multiple endings of Mark, the addition of the Pastorals to the
Pauline corpus, and harmonization among the Synoptic gospels as examples of
"orthodox corruption"). The unregulated transmission of texts led to
corruption, both intentional and unintentional, and, ironically, religious
texts were especially vulnerable to intentional change. Even Marcion's
treatment of the Pauline letters and the gospel of Luke was consistent with
established Greco-Roman standards of criticism. Sometimes changes were made
to texts by the authors themselves. Tertullian and Augustine both issued
multiple editions of some of their works, and readings from various editions
were undoubtedly sometimes mixed together.
12. All of these observations are of tremendous importance to anyone
studying the transmission of the text of the New Testament or of other early
Christian writings. The fact that Christian writings circulated by means of
private copying of texts rather than by controlled copying in organized
scriptoria for at least three hundred years raises important methodological
questions for textual critics with regard to reconstructing the earliest
possible form of the text. The more or less standardized forms of the text
that arose first in Alexandria and later in and around Constantinople have
less claim to originality if Gamble's observations are taken seriously, and
more heed might need to be paid to early "wild" texts and to their "Western"
allies. Certainly the possibility of "primitive error" (à la Hort) must be
considered in many cases of textual difficulty (not to mention places where
no apparent difficulty is evident!). The identity of the "original text" is
called into serious question when the author kept one copy and sent another
one to a church, or, in the case of the Shepherd of Hermas, when there were
apparently three "original texts." The possibility of multiple editions,
particularly in Acts, but also in the Pauline letters as a whole, also
raises the possibility that there was no single original text of some books.
13. A couple of Gamble's assertions are not convincing. When he argues that
Paul, like other contemporary authors, kept copies of his own correspondence
(p. 100), several objections immediately come to mind. Are we to assume that
Paul, who had no permanent address, carried copies of his epistles with him
on his travels? If Paul had copies of all of his missives, why is
correspondence referred to in his extant letters (e.g., the epistle to the
Laodiceans) missing? Why are some letters apparently incomplete or
fragmentary (his Corinthian correspondence)? Finally, how would pseudonymous
epistles have been mixed in with genuine letters had Paul's collection been
available? It is more likely on the basis of the evidence that Paul's
collection, if there was one, never entered the transmission stream.
14. A second unconvincing argument is Gamble's claim that the existence of
the catholic epistles, coupled with the wide circulation of Paul's letters,
led to the idea that apostles wrote to the church as a whole. Thus, he says,
authors who wrote homilies in epistolary form, especially catholic letters,
must have intended their works for general circulation (p. 107). He cites
Apollonius' opposition to a certain Themiso, who presumed to write to the
church at large "in imitation of the apostle." It is evident, however, that
Apollonius' objection was not to the fact that Themiso wrote a catholic
epistle but rather to the content of that letter, with which he disagreed.
It is unclear, then, that the authors of books such as 1 John and Jude
intended their works for circulation beyond a particular church or at least
a particular, limited geographic region.
15. The final two chapters may be dealt with more briefly. Gamble's fourth
chapter deals with early Christian libraries. The great persecution of
Diocletian targeted church libraries, which were apparently so widespread
that the emperor seems to have assumed that every church had one. That most
churches had at least small collections of books is not surprising in light
of the importance of the public reading of both Old Testament scripture and
Christian writings in worship from the earliest period. The library in
Caesarea, which escaped the Diocletianic persecution, was an important
source of Christian texts following the legalization of Christianity. After
this time many church libraries grew to contain hundreds or even thousands
of volumes. Many large libraries existed in Rome and throughout Italy, and
even the relatively unimportant city of Hippo in North Africa had an
important library, thanks to its native son Augustine. Libraries were also
associated with the monasteries that sprang up in Egypt under the influence
of Pachomius, and the collection of writings found at Nag Hammadi might be
some of the discards of Pachomian monks.
16. Although little is known about early Christian libraries, other than
their existence and partial lists of the contents of some of them, the
activities associated with the great pagan libraries, particularly those at
Alexandria and Pergamum, shed light on the probable activities associated
with Christian libraries as well. The librarians of the pagan libraries were
responsible for the types and quality of the texts in their libraries, as
well as for cataloguing and acquisitions. The tasks of collation,
emendation, and restoration required the presence of both scholars (from the
Museion) and scribes (from the scriptorium) in the Alexandrian library.
17. Although no indepedent Jewish libraries are known to have existed, it is
almost certain that one was associated with the temple in Jerusalem and that
smaller ones were associated with the synagogues, many of which doubled as
public schools for Jewish boys. Gamble suggests that Cave 4 at Qumran may
have been the library of the Qumran community. Although he dismisses Norman
Golb's contention that the contents of the Qumran caves more likely
originated with Jerusalem libraries (Golb 1995: 143-149), and possibly even
the temple library, the fact that the texts were written by hundreds of
different scribes is strong evidence against the idea that most of them were
copied in a Qumran scriptorium. In either case, however, it is clear that
the Jews had libraries for their important works, just like the Romans, and
they undoubtedly influenced the development of Christian libraries as well.
18. In his final chapter, Gamble discusses "The Uses of Early Christian
Books." This chapter repeats some of his work in earlier chapters and almost
seems an independent study that was appended to the rest of the book.
Despite the somewhat rough connection to the previous chapters, it contains
valuable information. Gamble returns to the theme of the public reading of
Christian texts, stating that, although one cannot be certain, it is likely
that early Christian worship was heavily influenced by the synagogue. In
particular, the reading of texts was important for Christians from the
beginning, although they laid more emphasis on the prophets than on the
Torah. It is likely that testimonia, drawn largely from the prophetic
writings, were read in worship, as were early Christian writings (gospels,
letters of Paul). These latter works quickly gained a measure of authority,
despite the fact that the idea of a New Testament canon did not arise until
the second century and was not settled for at least two more centuries. By
the fourth century, scriptures were often chanted rather than read in the
modern sense of the word, and the Psalms were certainly sung in Christian
worship well before that time. In addition to public reading, Christian
works were also read in private by literate members of the church. Finally,
Christian writings were also sometimes used for the practice of bibliomancy,
telling fortunes from a book by opening it at random and reading what meets
the eye (cf. the account of Augustine's conversion).
19. The book ends rather abruptly at this point without a conclusion, and
one wishes that many of the valuable insights that Gamble offers could have
been summarized in a few pages at the end of the book. Also missing is a
bibliography, something that no scholarly book should be without.
Typographic errors are few, and most corrections are obvious enough, but
readers should mark one correction in their own copies of the book. On page
62, the average column width of manuscript P46 is given as 1.5 cm;
this should be corrected to 11.5 cm (a case of haplography!). One will look
in vain in the book for a discussion of scribal practices, something that
has been dealt with adequately by others but that would certainly be welcome
in a book dealing with books and readers. The addition of a chapter on
scribes and scribal practices would enhance a second edition of this already
immensely valuable resource.
20. The critiques offered here and there in this review should be seen as
comments on minor faults in a work of great importance. Viewing the history
of Christian texts from the perspective of their larger Greco-Roman and
Jewish settings allows one to grasp more completely various aspects of the
transmission and use of those texts. After reading this book, one wonders
why no one thought to write it earlier. Gamble raises so many important
issues and then proceeds to give such reasoned, insightful answers to his
own questions that it is no exaggeration to say that everyone who deals with
early Christian literature in the future will have to contend with this
book, which will undoubtedly become a standard in both the classroom and the
study for years to come. Gamble is to be commended for his efforts.
© TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism, 1997.
Bibliography
Deissmann, Adolf 1978. Light from the Ancient East. Translated by Lionel R.
M. Strachan. New York : George H. Doran, 1927; paperback ed., Grand Rapids:
Baker.
Ehrman, Bart D. 1993. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of
Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Golb, Norman 1995. Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret
of Qumran. New York: Scribner.
Goodspeed, Edgar J. 1926. The Formation of the New Testament. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
James R. Adair, Jr.
Scholars Press