Public and Private— Second- and Third-Century Gospel Manuscripts

Abstract

Remarkable uniformity in the size of early gospel codices provides evidence for conventional approaches to manuscript production in the second and third centuries. Christians favoured a size approximating the Turner Group 9.1 format in the second century, and the Group 8.2 format in the third century. When combined with other conventional approaches to MS production – semi-literary to literary hands and the use of readers’ aids to facilitate public reading – there is much support for the idea that most codices dated up to the early third century were produced in controlled settings (i.e., in small copy centres or scriptoria comprised of at least two trained scribes) for public or liturgical use. In contrast, many third-century gospel manuscripts (e.g., ∏45) bear the hallmarks of uncontrolled production for private use.