God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts
A provocative book from a highly original scholar, challenging much of what we know about early Christian manuscripts
 
“[Nongbri] sets out to demystify the ‘discovery’ of ancient writings, advancing a more sober and realistic framework for assessing the breathless claims and counterclaims that appear in the media. . . . For those wanting to know something of the material basis for the world’s most published (and possibly, read) book, Nongbri’s own book is a gift.”—Luke Timothy Johnson, Commonweal
 
In this bold and groundbreaking book, Brent Nongbri provides an up-to-date introduction to the major collections of early Christian manuscripts and demonstrates that much of what we thought we knew about these books and fragments is mistaken. While biblical scholars have expended much effort in their study of the texts contained within the earliest Christian manuscripts, there has been a surprising lack of interest in thinking about these books as material objects with individual, unique histories. We have too often ignored the ways that the antiquities market obscures our knowledge of the origins of these manuscripts.
 
Through painstaking archival research and detailed studies of the most important collections of early Christian manuscripts, Nongbri vividly shows that the earliest Christian books are more than just carriers of texts or samples of handwriting. They are three-dimensional archaeological artifacts with fascinating stories to tell, if we’re willing to listen.
1127972359
God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts
A provocative book from a highly original scholar, challenging much of what we know about early Christian manuscripts
 
“[Nongbri] sets out to demystify the ‘discovery’ of ancient writings, advancing a more sober and realistic framework for assessing the breathless claims and counterclaims that appear in the media. . . . For those wanting to know something of the material basis for the world’s most published (and possibly, read) book, Nongbri’s own book is a gift.”—Luke Timothy Johnson, Commonweal
 
In this bold and groundbreaking book, Brent Nongbri provides an up-to-date introduction to the major collections of early Christian manuscripts and demonstrates that much of what we thought we knew about these books and fragments is mistaken. While biblical scholars have expended much effort in their study of the texts contained within the earliest Christian manuscripts, there has been a surprising lack of interest in thinking about these books as material objects with individual, unique histories. We have too often ignored the ways that the antiquities market obscures our knowledge of the origins of these manuscripts.
 
Through painstaking archival research and detailed studies of the most important collections of early Christian manuscripts, Nongbri vividly shows that the earliest Christian books are more than just carriers of texts or samples of handwriting. They are three-dimensional archaeological artifacts with fascinating stories to tell, if we’re willing to listen.
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God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts

God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts

by Brent Nongbri
God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts

God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts

by Brent Nongbri

Paperback(Translatio)

$24.95 
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Overview

A provocative book from a highly original scholar, challenging much of what we know about early Christian manuscripts
 
“[Nongbri] sets out to demystify the ‘discovery’ of ancient writings, advancing a more sober and realistic framework for assessing the breathless claims and counterclaims that appear in the media. . . . For those wanting to know something of the material basis for the world’s most published (and possibly, read) book, Nongbri’s own book is a gift.”—Luke Timothy Johnson, Commonweal
 
In this bold and groundbreaking book, Brent Nongbri provides an up-to-date introduction to the major collections of early Christian manuscripts and demonstrates that much of what we thought we knew about these books and fragments is mistaken. While biblical scholars have expended much effort in their study of the texts contained within the earliest Christian manuscripts, there has been a surprising lack of interest in thinking about these books as material objects with individual, unique histories. We have too often ignored the ways that the antiquities market obscures our knowledge of the origins of these manuscripts.
 
Through painstaking archival research and detailed studies of the most important collections of early Christian manuscripts, Nongbri vividly shows that the earliest Christian books are more than just carriers of texts or samples of handwriting. They are three-dimensional archaeological artifacts with fascinating stories to tell, if we’re willing to listen.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300248609
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 01/28/2020
Edition description: Translatio
Pages: 416
Product dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Brent Nongbri is an Honorary Research Fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and the author of Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept and numerous articles on the paleography and codicology of early Christian manuscripts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Map Showing Locations in Egypt xii

Prologue Reintroducing the Earliest Christian Manuscripts 1

1 The Early Christian Book 21

2 The Dating Game 47

3 Finding Early Christian Books in Egypt 83

4 A Discovery "Which Threw All Others in the Shade": The Beatty Biblical Papyri 116

5 An Elusive Collection: The Bodmer Papyri 157

6 Excavating Christian Litter and Literature at Oxyrhynchus 216

7 Fabricating a Second-Century Codex of the Four Gospels 247

Epilogue The Future of Ancient Christian Books 269

Appendix: Christian Books from Oxyrhynchus 273

Notes 281

Bibliography 353

Index of Subjects 385

Index of Manuscripts 395

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