Papyri, Parchments, and Ostraca and the Study of Ancient Christianity Today

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Although a select number of manuscript discoveries (such as those at Qumran and Nag Hammadi) have become known to the broader public, most manuscripts from Late Antiquity do not enjoy such fame. My paper discusses a diverse body of manuscripts that is not well known beyond the purview of specialists: the numerous papyri, parchments, and ostraca that have survived from late antique Egypt. Because these materials often reflect the lived circumstances, actions, and concerns of individuals, they continue to deepen and alter our understanding of many aspects of late antique society. This can be illustrated, with regard to ancient Christianity, by examples from recent studies of liturgical texts and letters. Current technologies (databases, inventories, digital images) now make it possible to mine large corpora of materials and examine individual artefacts in ways that in the past only few people would have been able to do, making these materials available to scholars around the world.