To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story by Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman (review)

With this volume, Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman have provided not only a magisterial treatment of the pericope adulterae (John 7.53–8.11 NRSV) but also a brilliant model for the type of textual studies New Testament scholarship requires in the twenty-first century. Extensively researched and clearly distilled discussions of the full breadth of issues involved in analyzing the transmission and reception of early Christian texts, To Cast the First Stone is anything but the stereotypical, dry presentation of the text-critical data surrounding a disputed passage in John (or Luke, in some manuscripts). Rather, it is a monograph dedicated to uncovering the manifold ways in which "the history of this passage reveals as much about the changing priorities of scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an 'initial text' of John" (343), and convincingly demonstrating that "there is so much more to the story of the woman taken in adultery than what the story has meant" and that "there is so much more to the pericope adulterae than answering the question of whether or not it was written by John the Evangelist" (344).

After opening with acknowledgements and an introduction that also contains a helpful overview of the book's contents (9–12), Knust and Wasserman set forth their discussion over the course of eight chapters divided into four parts. Part One ("A Case of Textual Corruption?") considers the place of the pericope adulterae in modern scholarship as part of the development of modern, historical-critical scholarship and textual criticism. This eminently fair presentation of both those arguing against and for the "originality" of this passage in John is interested in more than simply enumerating scholarly positions, and considers the broader contexts influencing the types of questions being asked concerning the pericope. Knust and Wasserman here alert the reader to the fact that their project avoids questions of the canonical and historical status of the passage as their "book regards the puzzle of the pericope's uneven transmission and reception as an invitation to reconsider wider attitudes about 'the gospel,' Gospel books, and 'sinning' women" (46) in the history of Christianity.

Part Two ("The Present and Absent Pericope Adulterae") consists of Chapters Two through Four, with Chapter Two setting forth patristic and manuscript attestation for the pericope (or absence thereof). Though Knust and Wasserman are convinced that the story was likely interpolated, their main interest is in shifting the conversation from the idea of this being a textual "corruption" to the broader issue of the "active shaping of gospel traditions and books by the communities that received them" (51). The attestation of copies of John both with and without the passage is an indication, they argue, that in a very real sense "the pericope adulterae was always 'gospel,' whether or not it was present in the first copies of John" (95). Chapters Three and Four then convincingly argue the unlikelihood of the story being suppressed, with a particularly persuasive discussion highlighting that though ancient Christians supported a patriarchal order and strict penitential discipline, "neither an interest in disciplining wayward women nor a preference for strict Christian sexual morals requires that the pericope adulterae be suppressed" (139).

Part Three ("A Divided Tradition? The Pericope Adulterae East and West") consists of Chapters Five and Six and argues that it is a misguided notion to contend that due to textual discrepancies surrounding the passage, the story was marginal in Christian thought and practice. One here finds an accessible and lucid demonstration of the often observed point that the story enjoyed a more extensive reception in the Latin West, with the important caveat that Knust and Wasserman insist that though the pericope was more widely known in Latin contexts, it cannot be said that it was overlooked or even ignored in Greek contexts. In sum, the "pattern of citation and manuscript evidence makes it highly likely...