Christians and the Codex: Generic Materiality and Early Gospel Traditions

• Published in: Journal of early Christian studies Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 383 - 415
• Main Authors: Larsen, Matthew D. C, Letteney, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 2019
• Subjects: Apollonius of Tyana; Bible; Christianity; Genre; Historical text analysis; Literature; Martyrs; New Testament; Philostratus, the Athenian (C 2nd and 3rd century); Traditions; Writing
• ISSN: 1067-6341; 1086-3184; 1086-3184
• DOI: 10.1353/earl.2019.0037

Why did Christians in the second through fifth centuries overwhelmingly utilize the codex format while other contemporaries used the scroll for literary texts almost exclusively? We offer the concept of "generic materiality," which connects genre with material format. The early readers and users of the Gospel according to Mark in particular, and other gospels more generally, often described and treated them not as "books" with authors but as ὑπομνήματα or commentarii. Notebooks like ὑπομνήματα are typically described as circulating in tabulae, or the codex form. The prevalence of the codex form among second- through fifth-century biblical manuscripts derives in large part from durable generic expectations.