Laboratories of Scripture: Social Formations and the Making of Christian Textual Traditions in the Second Century
This article examines the second century CE as a "laboratory" for the formation of Christian textual traditions, arguing that the canonisationprocesses later recognised in Christianity were rooted in diverse, experimental social formations. Building on the models proposed by Judith M. Lieu...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Neotestamentica
Year: 2025, Volume: 59, Issue: 1, Pages: 157-171 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article examines the second century CE as a "laboratory" for the formation of Christian textual traditions, arguing that the canonisationprocesses later recognised in Christianity were rooted in diverse, experimental social formations. Building on the models proposed by Judith M. Lieu and Markus Vinzent, the study investigates how early Christian groups, through acts of reception, entextualisation, and tradition-renegotiation, contributed to the construction of a scriptural universe. Rather than tracing a linear history toward the NT canon, the article critically engages with questions of historiography and social theory, demonstrating that Christian textual production during this period was fragmented, pluriform, and deeply embedded within the broader Graeco-Roman shift toward textualised religious authority. By engaging recent theoretical work in the field (Clark 2004; Van den Heever 2020; Kotrosits 2023), the study proposes that the early Christian movement should be understood not as a unified narrative toward orthodoxy, but as a dynamic and contested field of textual experimentation within the religious landscapes of late antiquity. |
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| ISSN: | 2518-4628 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Neotestamentica
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/neo.2025.a977033 |
