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1 results

  • 1 - Christian Book Culture, New Philology and Gnosticism

  • Paul Linjamaa, Lunds Universitet, Sweden
  • Book:
    The Nag Hammadi Codices and their Ancient Readers
    Published online:
    04 January 2024
    Print publication:
    11 January 2024, pp 23-48
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  • Summary

    The last fifty years have seen a considerable boom in the study of ancient book culture, reading and scribal habits. This chapter situates the present study in light of these scholarly developments and raises some critical questions concerning certain viewpoints that have been put forward regarding how to approach the Nag Hammadi codices given what is known about religious materiality in antiquity. In light of the latest scholarship on ancient literacy surveyed in this chapter, it is argued that the texts were most likely produced by and for the direct use of a small educated societal minority. The chapter also addresses some of the old and new scholarly paradigms and ideological setups in the scholarship on the texts: for example, the potential and limits of the trend called ‘New Philology’, as well as the problems attached to concepts like ‘heresy’ and ‘Gnosticism’ and their persistent connection with the Nag Hammadi collection.