Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources

by Lincoln H. Blumell, Thomas A. Wayment

Overview

Blumell and Wayment present a thorough compendium of all published papyri, parchments, and patristic sources that relate to Christianity at Oxyrhynchus before the fifth century CE. Christian Oxyrhynchus provides new and expanded editions of Christian literary and documentary texts that include updated readings, English translations—some of which represent the first English translation of a text—and comprehensive notes.

The volume features New Testament texts carefully collated against other textual witnesses and a succinct introduction for each Oxyrhynchus text that provides information about the date of the papyrus, its unique characteristics, and textual variants. Documentary texts are grouped both by genre and date, giving readers access to the Decian Libelli, references to Christians in third- and fourth-century texts, and letters written by Christians. A compelling resource for researchers, teachers, and students, Christian Oxyrhynchus enables broad access to these crucial primary documents beyond specialists in papyrology, Greek, Latin, and Coptic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481309264
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2018
Pages:	778
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lincoln H. Blumell is Associate Professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University.

Thomas Wayment is Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Christian Literary Papyri from Oxyrhynchus
New Testament Texts
Extracanonical Texts
Other Christian Literary Texts

III. Documentary Papyri and Christianity at Oxyrhynchus
Decian Libelli
Christian References in Third-Century Documentary Texts
Christian References in Fourth-Century Documentary Texts
Letters Written by Christians from the Third and Fourth Centuries

IV. Patristic, Coptic, and Other Sources on Christians and Christianity at Oxyrhynchus

Bibliography
Scripture and Ancient Sources Index
Manuscript Index
Subject Index

What People are Saying About This

Christian Oxyrhynchus is a marvelous resource for scholars and students alike. The volume collects not only the fragments of texts that eventually became part of the ‘New Testament’ but also a wealth of extracanonical Christian texts, hymns, prayers, tractates, and amulets that constituted the library of knowledge that Oxyrhynchite Christians had in the second to the fourth centuries C.E. Taken together, these form a rich dossier, illustrating the complexion and contours of Christianity at this important Egyptian city.

AnneMarie Luijendijk

A treasure trove! This book will serve as a rich resource both for teaching and for original research on a formative period in the history of early Christianity with firsthand documents from a known provenance. I am sure it will stimulate and generate new research on this important site and its Christian population. I recommend it warmly.

Thomas J. Kraus

For the first time ever, Lincoln Blumell and Thomas Wayment provide a collection of literary and documentary witnesses to early Christianity from a late ancient town in Upper Egypt. Students and scholars alike will profit from the meticulous and scrutinizing work of collecting this mass of papyri from the second to the fourth century.

John S. Kloppenborg

Christian Oxyrhynchus is a marvelous resource for scholars and students alike. The volume collects not only the fragments of texts that eventually became part of the 'New Testament' but also a wealth of extracanonical Christian texts, hymns, prayers, tractates, and amulets that constituted the library of knowledge that Oxyrhynchite Christians had in the second to the fourth centuries C.E. Taken together, these form a rich dossier, illustrating the complexion and contours of Christianity at this important Egyptian city.

Malcolm Choat

This important new collection forms an indispensable aid to research on early Christian Egypt, and will serve as the basis for the next generation of work on Christianity in Oxyrhynchus.

Editorial Reviews

For the first time specific sources for Christianity from the second to the fourth century are easily available to everyone. Besides, they are presented in an academically concise and responsible manner so that Christian Oxyrhynchus is definitely not just a popular book, it is a piece of research or, in other words, a tool for researchers to both start from and work with. The preciseness and accuracy, the wealth of information and details, the overall astoundingly correct orthography, and the paleographical details are dealt with in a very comprehensible manner even for non-experts.

Early Christianity - Thomas J. Kraus

This volume is sure to stimulate further investigation into the social, economic, and religious lives of Christians in Oxyrhynchus.

Review of Biblical Literature - Geoffrey S. Smith

Every scholar of Christian origins should own this publication, which transcends simple reproduction of the sources. The volume’s price further supports its use in graduate and undergraduate settings, even as a reading list item for an advanced course of study. The contents draw the reader back to engage key sources and likewise induce the reader to use the corpus for novel research.

Journal of Early Christian Studies - James D. G. Dunn

In this helpful and carefully presented volume, Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment bring together some of the most important texts, biblical, literary and documentary, relating to the Christian inhabitants of the city.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History - James Carleton Paget

Blumell and Wayment are competent and conscientious editors. We thank them for the results of their labours, which should bring these texts to an audience wider than that served by the original publications.

Novum Testamentum

This is an exceptionally useful volume…The material presented here will enrich understanding of the life and concerns of this significant early Christian community.

Expository Times - Paul Foster Paul Foster

This is an exceptionally useful volume…The material presented here will enrich understanding of the life and concerns of this significant early Christian community.

Expository Times - Paul Foster

Blumell and Wayment are to be commended for producing a solid work of scholarship that will prove useful for years to come. They have been thorough in working through the literature and documents connected to Oxyrhynchus and in presenting them in an attractive format. The information collected will be essential for those attempting to understand the character and history of Christianity in Oxyrhynchus, and indeed in Egypt as a whole.

Roderic L. Mullen

A handy and helpful publication, which can be used not only for teaching purposes, but also for introducing Oxyrhynchus and its papyri to readers from various disciplines.

Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists - Robert Mazza

…Blumell and Wayment are to be congratulated for an impressive achievement: a much-needed resource, highly detailed and accurately executed. Anyone who has endured the constant searching and sifting of volume after volume of the Oxyrhynchus library will recognize immediately the value and convenience of this collection. In all, Christian Oxyrhynchus fills a glaring gap with an excellent and eminently useful tool for scholars as well as students who are interested in early Christianity, its people, and its texts.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society - Zachary J. Cole