The Pauline Corpus in Early Christianity

The Pauline Corpus in Early Christianity: Its Formation, Publication, and Circulation offers acomprehensive and wide-ranging examination of the canonical development of thecollection of writings associated with the Apostle Paul. The volume considers a number ofcluesfromthe New Testament writings, ancient literary conventionsrelated to thecomposition and collection of letters, and a variety of early witnessesto the early state ofthe corpussuch as biblicalmanuscripts,canonical lists, and the testimony of writers. As aconclusion to these inquiries,Laird arguesthat at least threemajor archetypal editions ofthe Pauline corpus-those containing 10, 13, and 14 letters-appearto have been collectedand edited as early asthe first century. Thesemajor archetypal editions,Laird concludes,circulated simultaneously formany years until editionscontaining 14 letters became nearlyuniversally recognized by the fourth century. The volume serves as a valuable resource ofinformation forthose engaged in the study of the early state of the New Testament canonand offers a fresh perspective on the processthat led to the formation of the Paulinecorpus.