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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

L. Blumell, T. Waymant, Christian Oxyrhynchus Texts, Documents, and Sources

Forthcoming in August: 
Christian Oxyrhynchus
Texts, Documents, and Sources
Edited by Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment
Baylor University Press
Hardback, 778 pages
$89.95
Published: 15th August 2015
ISBN: 9781602585393
Format: 9in x 6in

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.

“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.”

—John S. Kloppenborg, F.R.S.C., Chair and Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto

"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".

—Malcolm Choat, Associate Professor, Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University

"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 first hand 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.”

—AnneMarie Luijendijk, Chair and Professor, Department of Religion, Princeton University

“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.”

—Thomas J. Kraus, University of Zurich, Switzerland