Read Online Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bart D. Ehrman
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well. For I have some words to add. Then, when I complete all the words they will be made known through you to all those who are chosen. And so, you will write two little books, sending one to Clement and the other to Grapte. Clement will send his to the foreign cities, for that is his commission. But Grapte will admonish the widows and orphans. And you will read yours in this city, with the presbyters who lead the church. (Shepherd 8.3)
And so the text he had slowly copied had some additions that he was to make; and he was to make two copies. One of these copies would go to a man named Clement, who may have been a person known from other texts to have been the third bishop of the city of Rome. Possibly this is before he became the head of the church, as it appears here that he is a foreign correspondent for the Roman Christian community. Was he a kind of official scribe who copied their texts? The other copy is to go to a woman named Grapte, who possibly was also a scribe, perhaps one who made copies of texts for some of the church members in Rome. Hermas himself is to read his copy of the book to the Christians of the community (most of whom would have been illiterate, and so unable to read the text themselves)âalthough how he can be expected to do so if he still canât distinguish the syllables from one another is never explained.
Here, then, we get a real-life glimpse into what copying practices were like in the early church. Presumably the situation was similar in various churches scattered throughout the Mediterranean region, even though no other church was (probably) as large as the one in Rome. A select few members were scribes for the church. Some of these scribes were more skilled than others: Clement appears to have had as one of his duties the dissemination of Christian literature;Hermas simply does the task because on this one occasion it was assigned to him. The copies of texts that are reproduced by these literate members of the congregation (some of them more literate than others) are then read to the community as a whole.
What more can we say about these scribes in the Christian communities? We donât know exactly who Clement and Grapte were, although we do have additional information about Hermas. He speaks of himself as a former slave ( Shepherd 1.1). He was obviously literate, and so comparatively well educated. He was not one of the leaders of the church in Rome (he is not included among the âpresbytersâ), although later tradition claims that his brother was a man named Pius, who became bishop of the church in the mid second century. 6 If so, then possibly the family had attained a prestigious status level in the Christian communityâeven though Hermas had once been a slave. Since only educated people, obviously, could be literate, and since getting educated normally meant having the leisure and money needed to do so (unless one was trained in literacy as a slave), it appears that the early Christian scribes were the wealthier, more highly educated members of the Christian communities in which they lived.
As we have seen, outside the Christian communities, in the Roman world at large, texts were typically copied either by professional scribes or by literate slaves who were assigned to do such work within a household. That means, among other things, that the people reproducing texts throughout the empire were not, as a rule, the people who wanted the texts. The copyists were by and large reproducing the texts for others. One of the important recent findings of scholars who study the early Christian scribes, on the other hand, is that just the opposite was the case with them. It appears that the Christians copying the texts were the ones who wanted the textsâthat is, they were copying the texts either for their own personal and/or communal use or they were making them for the sake of others in their community. 7 In short, the people copying the early Christian texts were
And so the text he had slowly copied had some additions that he was to make; and he was to make two copies. One of these copies would go to a man named Clement, who may have been a person known from other texts to have been the third bishop of the city of Rome. Possibly this is before he became the head of the church, as it appears here that he is a foreign correspondent for the Roman Christian community. Was he a kind of official scribe who copied their texts? The other copy is to go to a woman named Grapte, who possibly was also a scribe, perhaps one who made copies of texts for some of the church members in Rome. Hermas himself is to read his copy of the book to the Christians of the community (most of whom would have been illiterate, and so unable to read the text themselves)âalthough how he can be expected to do so if he still canât distinguish the syllables from one another is never explained.
Here, then, we get a real-life glimpse into what copying practices were like in the early church. Presumably the situation was similar in various churches scattered throughout the Mediterranean region, even though no other church was (probably) as large as the one in Rome. A select few members were scribes for the church. Some of these scribes were more skilled than others: Clement appears to have had as one of his duties the dissemination of Christian literature;Hermas simply does the task because on this one occasion it was assigned to him. The copies of texts that are reproduced by these literate members of the congregation (some of them more literate than others) are then read to the community as a whole.
What more can we say about these scribes in the Christian communities? We donât know exactly who Clement and Grapte were, although we do have additional information about Hermas. He speaks of himself as a former slave ( Shepherd 1.1). He was obviously literate, and so comparatively well educated. He was not one of the leaders of the church in Rome (he is not included among the âpresbytersâ), although later tradition claims that his brother was a man named Pius, who became bishop of the church in the mid second century. 6 If so, then possibly the family had attained a prestigious status level in the Christian communityâeven though Hermas had once been a slave. Since only educated people, obviously, could be literate, and since getting educated normally meant having the leisure and money needed to do so (unless one was trained in literacy as a slave), it appears that the early Christian scribes were the wealthier, more highly educated members of the Christian communities in which they lived.
As we have seen, outside the Christian communities, in the Roman world at large, texts were typically copied either by professional scribes or by literate slaves who were assigned to do such work within a household. That means, among other things, that the people reproducing texts throughout the empire were not, as a rule, the people who wanted the texts. The copyists were by and large reproducing the texts for others. One of the important recent findings of scholars who study the early Christian scribes, on the other hand, is that just the opposite was the case with them. It appears that the Christians copying the texts were the ones who wanted the textsâthat is, they were copying the texts either for their own personal and/or communal use or they were making them for the sake of others in their community. 7 In short, the people copying the early Christian texts were
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