Book Reviewed: Early Christian Books in Egypt by Roger S. Bagnall

The forgotten origins This book explores the history, production, and use of Christian manuscripts in Egypt during the first three centuries of the Christian era by focusing on the context in which these texts were produced, used, and preserved. The early Christian book production within the broader Egyptian society was influenced by a heterogeneous population of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian cultures. This book does not go into the details of the early Christian texts but documents the rise of Christianity from a minority sect into a significant religion by the fourth century. The author discusses the papyrus and parchments, writing, copying, and publishing the Christian manuscripts monastic communities in Alexandria, Egypt. The production and use of texts played a crucial role in the spread and consolidation of Christian beliefs and practices. This is a scholarly examination of early Christian papyri that offers valuable insights into the early Christian communities in Egypt. Alexandria eventually developed into a centralized episcopate leading to a highly Christianized society with a network of leading bishops who later became important leaders of the Christian Church. Three chapters discussing; the Dating of the Earliest Christian Books in Egypt; The Economics of Book Production; and the Spread of the Codex were of some interest to me. Egyptians participating in the institutionalized civic life of the third century appeared to be the likely milieu for the development of a distinctively Christian Coptic writing system. A body of Greek­ reading, educated, well-to-do, book-owning Christians, interested in developing a religion may have financed church institutions in the first half of the third century. The Codex Sinaiticus is the first Bible written in the mid-fourth century (330–360 ACE) in Greek on a papyrus, the common language of the Eastern Roman Empire at the time. The book reads flawlessly and engages readers to a new fascinating way of looking at the writing, publication, and popularization of early Christian manuscripts. I recommend this to readers interested in Egyptian monastic societies and early Christian history.