The 'Meta-Data' of Earliest Christian Manuscripts

Abstract

The earliest extant physical artefacts of Christianity are manuscripts, and scholars concerned with the origins of Christianity should feel more obliged to familiarize themselves with these artefacts as a matter of some priority. This obligation is not, however, sufficiently widely recognized in the field, largely because many scholars do not realize what these items have to offer. So, the aim in this short discussion is to illustrate what sorts of data early Christian manuscripts present to students of Christian origins. Within the space available, I shall merely offer some selective illustrations of the sorts of features of early Christian manuscripts that may be of significance for larger historical issues, including Jewish and Christian relations in the first three centuries. I have offered a more extended discussion of these matters in the form of a modest-sized book