Books and Readers in the Early Church. A History of Early Christian Texts by Harry Y. Gamble (review)

492 BOOK REVIEWS The five chapters cover the pre-Nicene Eucharist, the Roman Mass up to the death of Gregory the Great, the calendar and lectionary, the initiation rites, and the ordination rites. There is, of course, very little material available on the early Roman liturgy,but every scrap of information we have is exploited in this book. It should be noted that references to Latin and Greek texts are given without an English translation. In the FirstApology of St. Justin Martyr there are two descriptions of the Eucharist . The first of these is for the baptism of converts and therefore, we are told, it is the Easter Mass. That may be, but we cannot be sure that the Roman Church was celebrating Easter at that early date. The feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29, we are told, is the day of their translation in the year 258. Again, that may be so, but it is only a conjecture.We are also told that there were no feasts of martyrs before the Peace of the Church in 313· But the Church of Smyrna, at least, was celebrating the feast of St. Polycarp in the year 156. However , these are very minor reservations in a splendid book. The proofreading was pretty good, considering the many texts in Greek and Latin. There should be a rough breathing for haitna (p. 8), and antou should be autou (p. 48). The suscipas (p. 27) should be suscipias. There is no Book II in Tertullian's De baptismo (p. 86). And somehow the bishops ofAlbano and Portus became the bishops of Alba and Ortus (p. 144). But enough of this nitpicking . As we are reminded in the preface, when the Henry Bradshaw Society was founded in 1890, most of the members were clergymen who were quite familiar with the workings of the liturgy. A hundred years later, such knowledge can no longer be assumed on the part of students of the Middle Ages. Hence the need for books of this sort. Richard M. Nardone Seton Hall University Books and Readers in the Early Church.A History ofEarly Christian Texts. By Harry Y. Gamble. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1995. Pp. xiii, 337. $32.50.) My great predecessor Edgar J. Goodspeed would have been delighted with this book. He was convinced that form follows publishing function and even wrote a book called Christianity Goes to Press. (Gamble's study is better.) He might have appreciated Gamble's claim to bypass issues of content and concentrate on "the bibliographic substructure: the practical and technological factors that belonged to the production, circulation, and use of early Christian books and the social and institutional correlates of that process" (p. x). The five extensive chapters discuss literacy and literary culture in antiquity; the early Christian book (especially the innovative codex);"publication" and circulation; early Christian libraries, ecclesiastical and personal; and the varied uses of early Christian books (public and private edification; magical). Gamble does not em- BOOK REVIEWS 493 phasize novelties as such but carefully revises information taken from many sources, fully discussed, and not, I believe, available elsewhere. He discusses each topic in relation not just to the Church but to the Graeco-Roman world generally, including both Jews and Gnostics. His study merits careful reading and continuing use because of its valuable collections, insightful comments, and thoroughness. In essence he has provided a "companion to early Christian literature" which should be required reading. A few supplemental questions may be worth raising. (1) The term "published " should not be used of ancient books, as Gamble is well aware, and surely Christian literature was never sold by booksellers. (2) What Irenaeus means by "tradition" is largely the content of the Bible plus those Christian books to which he has had access. He chooses some, accepts others. Where did he see them? Under whose guidance? (3) On literature and oral tradition, one should add what Irenaeus says (3.4.2) of Christian converts:"Those who have believed this faith without letters are barbarians in relation to our language [2 Cor. 11:6] but because of the faith are most wise in thinking, customs, and way of life...