Jul 29

Jul 29 Reflecting on Primary Source Literature and Research Languages

Background Studies, Early Christian Litera..., Greek Language and Gra..., Research

Earlier this summer, I was given an opportunity to write for theLAB. I reflected on how I structure my mornings and my time to develop as a NT and Early Christian scholar. I continue to develop in primary source intake as well as maintain/develop my research languages (Greek, Latin, German, French, and some Coptic).

My personality is very type-A and so this rote schedule and tightly organized morning is quite freeing for me -- so, this is not for everyone and is not a guaranteed success.

My interest in antiquity takes me from Jewish literature to Roman and Greek literature to early Christian and Patristic literature. I absolutely love all of these variegated interests and these wide ranging interests have only accentuated, rather than deterred from, my current writing projects (Didache, Hebrews, and Cyril of Alexandria).

Here is the original post: A Strategic Approach to Reading Background Texts of the New Testament

Follow: @academiclogos

I also re-posted it below.

While many NT scholars may know a whole lot about Matthew–Revelation, many lack the ability to pick up and read Josephus and Clement in the original Greek, or Seneca and Cicero in Latin. This reveals not just a severe lack of language ability, but, more importantly, a lack of familiarity with the ideas and historical contexts of Early Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Early Christian authors and texts.

My belief (and I’m not alone in this) is that, as a NT and Early Christian scholar, I must do more than be mindful of the vast body of literature outside the NT; I actually have to read it.

Let me show you how I developed a plan to read every background text to the New Testament.

Background

Three years ago, I came to a striking realization while sitting in the audience at a presentation at SBL in San Diego. An imperative suddenly loomed ominous over my head: I must deepen my knowledge of Early Christianity and broaden my awareness of ancient literature (Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac) by whatever means possible.

I began talking with close friends, academic mentors, and other biblical scholars. I attempted to compile a set of “best practices” to undergird my Early Christian discipline and language acquisition. Some of what follows is a result of these conversations, and some is a result of my own thinking on the matter.

Since the Fall of 2014 until this very day, I have followed this schedule faithfully. Even in the midst of Ph.D. coursework, dissertation writing, and now my first academic teaching post (not to mention family, moving, etc), my dedication to this reading plan has not diminished despite many challenges. Indeed, with every passing day my exhilaration with the material has only increased.

Let’s take a look at how I structure my reading time on a daily basis.

Study Schedule

My study schedule is ritualistic and mundane. It is consistent, monotonous, and structured. I must be committed to other research, writing projects, and normal academic life.

But my commitment to my reading schedule predominates all other projects. I do not begin any other work until my daily primary literature reading is finished. One key to my success: waking up early.

In order to grow and develop as a scholar of Early Christianity, I prioritize my time in the following ways.

I use my phone as a timer (using Airplane Mode is helpful, but not necessary).
I allot 15-20 minutes per segment (see below), and I work through as much material as possible in each segment.
Once each segment has ended, I immediately move to the next item, even if I’m in the middle of a sentence. Seconds count here.
During this reading time, my Internet is off, prohibiting any email or social media.
I do not respond to calls or texts (unless it’s my wife) and I keep breaks to a strict minimum.
And of course, I begin with a nice cup of coffee.

In this way, every weekday I am reading primary literature and increasing original language acquisition.

Here’s how I break down my total reading time, which totals 1.5–2 hours every morning:

Everyday — 15–20 Minutes Each:

Greek New Testament
English Bible
English Patristic and Early Christian Literature
Greek Patristic and Early Christian Literature

Odd Calendar Days — 15–20 Minutes Each:

English Greco-Roman Literature
Attic Greek (eventually swapped with Syriac)
German Grammar and Translation

Even Calendar Days — 15–20 Minutes Each:

Latin Literature
Latin Grammar (eventually swapped with Coptic review)
French Grammar and Translation (eventually swapped with Italian)

How do I maintain this regime on a daily basis? By sticking to the following 4 principles:

4 Key Principles for Reading Primary Sources:

Just Read. At the end of the day, the idea is reading. I read ancient language literature without a computer, and only with a lexicon. Find what works for you and just read. I read out of curiosity and intrigue.
Find what works for you. This year, Peter Brown’s reading schedulesurfaced, generating debates about what becoming a successful scholar in academia looks like. But it’s important to remember that maintaining a schedule like this doesn’t mean you automatically become a successful scholar; likewise, not adhering to it does not mean you are doomed to failure. Find what works for you and your research needs in terms of efficiency (what you can manage) and demand (what applies to your area of interest). Read for personal joy and intrigue, and not for a badge of honor. Maintain your speed, your rhythm, and your literature interests.
Achieve awareness, not memorization or mastery. I do not pretend to remember everything I read. I do not pretend to master all that my eyes have set upon. Rather, my goal is to gain a general awareness of ancient authors and their texts.
Influence your discipline through perpetual self-training. I have the ever-pressing desire to grow my abilities in my discipline. I believe that this requires me both to expand my awareness of the relevant and related literature and to persist in language acquisition.

Consistency truly pays off. Never did I think that I could work through this much literature in such a short time over the past number of years. You are slowly chipping away at a beautiful sculpture of antiquity.

Secretly, I wish I had a classics degree. But perhaps my ambitions would be tempered somewhat if I were too familiar already with these texts. There is power in novelty.

This sense of novelty, I hope, will motivate rather than dissuade biblical scholars like myself. The schedule I propose might be out of reach for you, but yours doesn’t have to match mine.

Rather than devoting 2 hours a day, consider making a commitment of 30 minutes a day and then slowly expanding your schedule. Start with English translations of ancient Greco-Roman literature (in the Loeb series is ideal) alongside the Greek New Testament.

Regardless of how you structure your plan, the premise is still the same: simply read.

Let me now show you my current reading efforts, in the hope that you are inspired to go and do (something) likewise.

What English Primary Source Material am I currently Reading?

In previous years, I devoted exclusive attention to specific genres, religious literature, or eras. For example, I worked through all of the Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, the DSS, both volumes of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Charlesworth), Bauckham and Davila’s More Noncanonical Scriptures (Vol. 1), and the New Testament Apocrypha (2 Vols. Schneemelcher, Elliot, and Ehrman and Plese). I also worked through the Apostolic Fathers and myriads of 1st–5th century literature (see below for the complete list).

In 2017, I refined my goals to align with my writing interests and perceived gaps in my research. This is the year of “Greco-Roman Literature,” and I am currently working through Seneca’s On Benefits, then Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, Livy, Tacitus Agricola, Homer Odyssey, Virgil Aeneid. From there, I will begin working through one of the following Ph.D. Classical Reading lists:

School of Classics Reading Lists (University of St Andrews)
Reading Lists – Classical Studies, MA and PhD (Boston University)
Select Reading Lists – European History, 31 BC–AD 900 (University of Cambridge)

My Early Christian literature reading is currently comprised of single figures and larger works. I intend to work through much of Cyril of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria (Contra Celsum, De Principiis), Augustine (City of God), and Eusebius (Life of Constantine).

What Original Language Source Material am I currently Reading?

In previous years, I devoted attention to the Hebrew Bible, selected LXX readings, Greek Apostolic Fathers (yes, including Hermas :-|), and the Greek New Testament. In Latin, I’ve worked through portions of Cicero, Quintilian, Perpetua, Scillitan Martyrs, Patrick of Ireland, and selected portions/books in the Latin New Testament.

Currently, I have Pliny the Younger, Epistles Book II (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics) before me, and once finished, I plan to move on to Novatian’s De Trinitate and Cyprian’s material at the end of the year.

Beyond the Greek New Testament, I am translating scattered selections of the Greek apocryphal Gospels, Cyril of Alexandria, and then I will eventually move to Origen of Alexandria.

When working in original language texts, I sight read with a lexicon in hand. This may be a bit odd in today’s world of instant access through powerful Bible programs. But I work really hard to forego looking at software.

This requires me to linger longer in a lexicon and forces me to appreciate the slow process of reading original language texts. Because of this, I work through these texts much slower while reading the GNT twice a year.

Get to Work

To inspire those of you on the fence: here is a sampling of the material that I have worked through over the past 2 years:

Apocrypha

Apocrypha — The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, 4th ed.

Dead Sea Scrolls

The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Geza Vermes, ed., Penguin Classics

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha — vol. 1 and 2, ed. James Charlesworth

1 Enoch
2 Baruch
2 Enoch
3 Baruch
3 Enoch
Apocalypse of Abraham
Apocalypse of Adam
Apocalypse of Daniel
Apocalypse of Elijah
Apocalypse of Sedrach
Apocalypse of Zephaniah
Apocryphal of Ezekiel
The Fourth Book of Ezra
Questions of Ezra
Revelation of Ezra
Sibylline Oracles
Testament of Adam
Testament of Job
Testament of Moses
Testament of Solomon
Testament of the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Treatise of Shem
Vision of Ezra

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha — vol. 1 More Noncanonical Scriptures, ed. Richard Bauckham, James R. Davila, Alexander Panayotov

Adam Octipartite/Septipartite
The Apocryphon of Eber
The Apocryphon of Ezekiel
The Apocryphon of Seth
Aramaic Levi
The Aramaic Song of the Lamb
The Balaam Text from Tell Deir ‘Alla
The Book of Noah
The Book of the Covenant
The Cave of Treasures
A Danielic Pseudepigraphon
The Dispute over Abraham
The Eight Book of Moses
Eldad and Modad
Exorcist Psalms of David and Solomon
Fifth Ezra
The Heartless Rich Man and the Precious Stone
Hebrew Visions of hell and Paradise
The Hydromancy of Solomon
The Inquiry of Abraham
Jeremiah’s Prophecy to Pashhur
The Latin Vision of Ezra
The Life of Adam and Eve
Midrib Vayissua’a
The Nine and a Half Tribes
Pale Historica
Questions of the Queen of Sheba and Answers by King Solomon
Quotations from Lost Books in the Hebrew Bible
The Relics of Zechariah and the Boy Buried at His Feet
See Zerubbabel
The Selenodromion of David and Solomon
The Seventh Vision of Daniel
Sixth Ezra
Songs of David
The Story of Melchizedek with the Melchizedek Legend
The Syriac History of Joseph
The Testament of Job
The Tiburtino Sibyl
The Treatise of the Vessels

New Testament Apocrypha

The Apocryphal Gospels — ed. Bart Ehrman and Zlatko

New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures — ed. Tony Burke, Brent Landau

New Testament Apocrypha — 2 vols., ed. Wilhelm Schneemelcher

Acts of Andrew
Acts of John
Apocalypse of Paul
Apocalypse of Peter
Apocalypse of Thomas
Ascension of Isaiah
Books of Esra (5th and 6th)
Christian Sibyllines
Coptic Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul
Coptic Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
The Correspondence between Seneca and Paul
The Epistle of the Laodiceans
The Kerygma Petri
The Pseudo-Titus Epistle

The Church Fathers

Apostolic Fathers

1–2 Clement
Didache
Epistle of Barnabas
Epistle to Diognetus
Fragment of Papias
Fragment of Quadratus
Letters of Ignatius
Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians
Martyrdom of Polycarp
Shepherd of Hermas

1st–2nd Century

Aristides, Apology
Athenagoras, Embassy for the Christians, Resurrection of the Dead
Epistula Apostolorum
Gospel of Peter
Irenaeus, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 1 Apology, 2 Apology
Melito of Sardis, On Pascha
Odes of Solomon
Suetonius
Tacitus, Agricola
Tatian, Address to the Greeks
Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus

3rd Century

Passion of Perpetua and Felicity
Origen, Homilies to Leviticus, Contra Celsum, On the Lord’s Prayer
Novatian, Trinity
Tertullian, Against Praxeas

4th–5th Century

Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Letters to Serapion
Augustine (4th–5th Cent), Confessions, De Trinitate
Didymus the Blind, On the Holy Spirit
Gregory of Nazianzus, Poemata Arcana, 5 Theological Orations and 2 Letters to Cleodonius (PPS)
Hilary of Poitiers, De Trinitate
Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiae
Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit, Homilies on the Psalms
Patrick of Ireland, Confessions
Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, On the Unity of Christ

Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash

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