Review of Hurtado, Earliest Christian Artifacts

Larry W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006. 248pp. $22.00, paper.

Larry Hurtado is on a mission to help Christians know their own treasures. In this book Hurtado makes pertinent observations on what can be known from the earliest Christian manuscripts. The five chapters of this volume are on The Texts, The Early Christian Preference for the Codex, The Nomina Sacra, The Staurogram, and Other Scribal Features.

Hurtado argues that the physical features of these earliest Christian artifacts—the manuscripts themselves—have wider significance. For instance, from the sheer number of Christian texts that have survived from the second and third centuries, he infers that “early Christianity represented a religious movement in which texts played a large role” (24). Moreover, these texts appear to be “artifacts of Christians of recognizably mainstream, ‘orthodox’ stance” (29), which is not an insignificant point in view of the modern day champions of various heresies arguing that there was no mainstream, orthodox stance. From the fact that the only Gospels that were linked and copied together in one manuscript were those that became part of the New Testament canon, Hurtado concludes that “those Gospel texts that were copied together were regarded as in some way complementary and sufficiently compatible with one another to be so linked” (37). Notably, texts such as the Gospel of Thomas were not so treated. The manuscripts evidence that Paul’s letters were copied together and treated as a collection by the second century and perhaps late in the first, and similar evidence from the late third to early fourth century points to a Johannine corpus consisting of the letters of John, Gospel of John, and Revelation (39). This is important evidence on second and third century Christianity, and it indicates a wide use of the Old Testament and most of what was eventually recognized as the New. The “translocal” evidence from these texts indicates that the earliest Christian artifacts do not support hypothetical reconstructions of isolated “communities.”

Having described the making of a codex, Hurtado shows that the wide early Christian use of this format was a marked departure from the trend in the culture at large, which maintained a heavy preference for the roll/scroll. The manuscript evidence leads him to conclude that while “The roll seems to have been reasonably acceptable for some Christian texts,” “it appears that Christians strongly preferred the codex for those writings that they regarded as scripture . . .” (57). Having showing the weaknesses of other suggested explanations for this reality, such as the supposed practical advantages of the codex or the socioeconomic background it may reflect, Hurtado suggests that the early Christian use of the codex would have differentiated copies of Christian scripture from other writings. He is attracted to Gamble’s proposal that an early edition of Paul’s epistles in codex form set an influential precedent (80).

From there Hurtado discusses the scribal practice of abbreviating the nomina sacra (sacred names). He highlights the four most regularly abbreviated terms: God, Lord, Christ, and Jesus, noting that gradually other terms also came to be abbreviated as well. The wide margins, generous line spacing, and usual letter size in Christian manuscripts indicates that these terms were not abbreviated for space-saving considerations. He contends that the “Jewish reverential attitude reflected in the scribal handling of the Tetragrammaton and key related designations of God has a counterpart in the early prominence of the four nomina divina [divine names] . . . in the early Christian manuscripts” (104–105, 121). Hurtado notes that this is physical evidence in support of his suggestions regarding the “‘binitarian shape’ of earliest Christian piety and devotion,” since the name of Jesus is given the same treatment as names of God (105–106). Commendably, Hurtado models courteous, logical, convincing engagement with and against the proposals of others, giving several pages to Christopher Tuckett’s challenges to the consensus of opinion.

Hurtado then takes up the scribal practice of writing a rho upon a tau to create a “staurogram,” which appears to be an early abbreviation for the terms “cross” and “crucify” (stauros/stauroo). This monogram apparently gave rise to others, such as the chi-rho (Christos), the iota-chi (Iesous Christos), and the iota-eta (Iesous). Here we have a fascinating discussion of where this early pictogram appears and how it arose. Hurtado is keen to the notion that “the tau-rho device was appropriated initially because it could serve as a stylized reference to (and visual representation of) Jesus on the cross” (151). The “t” shape of the tau with the superimposed “P” shape of the rho presenting a simple picture of a man on a cross. This is powerful physical evidence against claims that “visual references to Jesus’ crucifixion do not predate the fourth century” and the idea that “there was ‘no place in the third century [or earlier] for a crucified Christ . . .’” (153). The textual evidence comes from manuscripts “at least as early as the late second century” (154).

Hurtado’s final chapter explores “what the sizes and dimensions of early Christian codices may tell us about their intended readers and uses” (156–57). From these realities it is possible to conclude that many features of surviving manuscripts indicate that they were prepared for public reading. Others appear to have been prepared for private study. Moreover, from the early scribal corrections we can deduce a high degree of concern for an accurate text, indicating that the tradition was not fluid (186–87).

This fascinating book should command the attention of all who are interested in questions of how the New Testament came into being, when the documents began to be recognized as Scripture, and what can and cannot be maintained on the basis of the actual manuscript evidence. This book deserves wide reading among those with a high view of Scripture, and we can hope that it will spur students to access the manuscripts directly and thereby to know the treasures these texts contain. We can thank Prof. Hurtado for his service in calling attention to the riches of these manuscripts. May he be rewarded with droves of students who turn their attention to the direct study of these “earliest Christian artifacts.”

The Evangelical View of Scripture: 66 Inerrant Books

Mike Bird graciously invited me to contribute an essay to a volume he is editing entitled The Sacred Text. The book is on Scripture, and my essay is on the evangelical view of Scripture.

My word limit was 5,000 words, and my argument is that the 66 books of the Protestant Canon are inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore inerrant. The good Dr. Bird has given me permission to post my essay here until the manuscript is submitted to the publisher, at which time this PDF will disappear from this post (probably mid to late September). Should you be pleased to read this, I welcome your feedback.

So here’s my essay, “Scripture: The Evangelical View, or, The Sixty Six Books of the Protestant Canon Are Inspired by the Holy Spirit and Therefore Inerrant.”

Happy Birthday to John Calvin! Celebrate with Robert Godfrey’s Book

Tomorrow is the the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, I suggest you give yourself a present for Calvin’s birthday: Robert W. Godfrey’s John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor.

For a long time I’ve looked for a Calvin biography that would stand with Bainton’s biography of Luther, Here I Stand, and I’m hopeful that Godfrey’s book on Calvin might rise to that stature.

Praise God for the reformation, and praise God for those who led it. May the word they preached prosper in our mouths as it did in theirs.

Interviews with Nettles and Wills on Their New Books

SBTS has a new news blog, and there you can find an interview with Greg Wills on his history of the school, as well as a two part interview with Tom Nettles on his new biography of James P. Boyce.

There’s also a post on the two collections of the writings of Boyce and Many, respectively, the one edited by Nettles the other by Michael Haykin and others.

Enjoy!

HT: Patrick Schreiner

Greg Wills’ History of Southern Seminary

It’s out: Gregory A. Wills, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1859-2009

It is my understanding that today is its first day being sold at the Lifeway Store on the SBTS campus.

I was browsing the book and was surprised to see Scott Hafemann’s name. I won’t type up the whole story surrounding his name, but it is absolutely fascinating. Riveting. What has happened at this school is a work of God. It’s a miracle that I teach here. Praise the Lord!

Between this book on the history of Southern, Nettles’ biography of Boyce, and several other things that have come out, it’s quite a year for Baptist history.

New Nettles Biography of Boyce!

I happened to be in the Lifeway Store on the SBTS campus just now and they were setting up the display of this new book by Tom Nettles on James Petigru Boyce, founding father of Southern Seminary. I’m thrilled to have a copy, and eager to read it in this the 150th year since the school was started.

From the P & R site:

This book is a biography of James P. Boyce, the founder of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It focuses on his theological development, his lifelong struggle to establish the Seminary; and the theological controversies that shaped Baptists in the last half of the nineteenth century.

Finally, here is a contemporary, definitive biography of James Boyce, the nineteenth-century, visionary founder of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Boyce served as chairman of the faculty, and as professor of systematic and practical theology, and church government. Tom Nettles shows how Boyce gave his life to training Baptist theological students in orthodox, Reformed, experiential theology. Nettles does with Boyce what Iain Murray did with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Without resorting to hagiography, Nettles offers fascinating details of God’s great work through Boyce’s intriguing relationships with other notables, such as Archibald Alexander, Samuel Miller, Charles Hodge, Basil Manly Jr., Francis Wayland, F. B. Meyer, John A. Broadus, William Williams, and C. H. Toy. Ultimately this captivating biography moves us to worship God. Make it your must-read biography this year .

Dr. Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids