Scribes helped with writing New Testament: author

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This article was published 23/03/2024 (880 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Christians think of the Apostle Paul and other writers of the New Testament Epistles, the image that comes to mind for most is of someone with a quill in hand sitting and writing on a piece of parchment.

“Everything about that image is wrong,” said biblical scholar Candida Moss, author of the new book God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible.

Moss, a professor of theology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom who specializes in ancient history and early Christianity and the New Testament, says that image typically comes to us from Renaissance art. A truer picture would be to think of those ancient authors dictating their thoughts to scribes.

“What we are missing is all the people who did that work,” she said of the scribes, most of whom were low-status workers or slaves. “And the kind of genius that goes into that kind of work.”

Moss noted that, during the time the New Testament was written, there was a literacy rate of between five to 10 per cent. For that reason, scribes were in high demand since few people knew how to read or write. They filled an important role by writing letters, receipts, invoices and legal documents.

They also were responsible for the creation of longer works, like those of Cicero, one of the most accomplished and prolific writers of ancient Rome. “I don’t think you ever before read a letter of mine which I had not written myself,” he told one. “The bare fact that my letter is by the hand of a scribe will show you how busy I am,” he said to another.

Writers of the New Testament also used scribes, Moss said, noting that six of the thirteen epistles bearing Paul’s name as author contain that evidence: Romans, First Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Philemon, and Second Thessalonians. It is also possible he used scribes for some of the other letters attributed to him.

For example, in Romans 16:22, a scribe named Tertius says: “I, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.” In Galatians 6:11, Paul explained why some words are bigger than the others, which were written by a scribe. “See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!” he said.

For Moss, knowing New Testament writers used scribes is a reminder there were many mostly unnamed and invisible people behind the scenes when it comes to the writing of the Bible.

This was important and skilled work, she said, noting some scribes used a form of shorthand called Tachygraphy, where symbols were used in place of words. At the same time, the scribes likely acted as editors as well by taking rambling dictation and smoothing it into polished prose.

Their work is a reminder the New Testament “is a very human document,” involving a “broader range of people than traditionally thought,” she said.

As for slaves being used to write the Bible, some might be uncomfortable thinking that Paul might have used them. But slavery was common in the world of the New Testament, Moss said, and it was not uncommon for slaves to work as scribes in the ancient world. In fact, some of them were taught specifically for that purpose; archeological digs have turned up schools where slaves were taught to read and write.

Not only did educating slaves fill a need in a mostly illiterate society, it increased their value. “Teaching them to read and write was a good investment on the part of their owners,” she said, noting they would get a higher price if sold.

As for whether Paul used slaves, it’s a possibility, Moss said—wealthier Christians could have loaned him their slaves to take dictation. “We can’t be 100 per cent sure they were slaves, but some have names commonly found among slaves,” she said, like “Tertius.”

In addition to being a helpful reminder about the low literacy rate of that time, the use of scribes also indicates how the early Christians would have received the letters.

“Those letters from Paul and the other writers weren’t read privately, but were read to the early Christians by someone who could read,” Moss said, noting the early Christians not very educated. “Most people needed things read aloud.”

Through her book, Moss wants to show readers that the New Testament, far from being the work of a few, actually involved the efforts of many others. By focusing only on the names given to the books, “we can miss the many who helped with the work,” she said.

You can find out more about God’s Ghostwriters at https://candidamoss.com/gods-ghostwriters

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