¹ The classic work on this subject remains Gunkel, Hermann, Die Wirkungen des heiligen Geistes nach der populären Anschauung der apostolischen Zeit und der Lehre des Apostels Paulus (3d ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1909).Google Scholar For the entire discussion and bibliography, see Kleinknecht, Hermann, “Πνενμα, Πνενματικός,” TDNT 6 (1968) 339–52Google Scholar.

² Luke used a report of a mass ecstasy, which he interpreted as the miracle of speaking in different languages; see Lohse, Eduard, “Πεντεκοσλή,” TDNT 6 (1968) 50–52.Google Scholar For the discussion of other interpretations, see Conzelmann, Hans, Acts of the Apostles: A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987) 15–17Google Scholar.

³ For discussion of this question, see Campenhausen, Hans von, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries (trans. Baker, J. A.; Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969) 97–106;Google ScholarSchoedel, William R., Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985)Google Scholar.

⁴ Ignatius Trall. 5.2. See also the reference to the bishop of the Magnesians, whose “reckoning is not with flesh, but with God, who knows the secret things” (Magn. 3.2).

⁵ For the explanation of this self-designation, see Schoedel, , Ignatius, 36Google Scholar.

⁶ Ignatius Poly. 1.1-2. Even Polycarp himself (Phil, inscr.) does not call himself “bishop.” The sender is simply identified as “Polycarp and the Elders with him.”

⁷ Ignatius Phld. 7.1-2 (trans. Schoedel, Ignatius, 204).

⁸ For these developments see Campenhausen, von, Ecclesiastical Authority, 163–69 and passimGoogle Scholar.

⁹ Whether the writing of letters played a significant role in the organization of Jewish diaspora communities is not clear.

¹⁰ Some basic works on the writing of letters in antiquity are Exler, Francis Xavier J., The Form of the Ancient Letter: A Study in Greek Epistolography (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1923)Google Scholar;Koskenniemi, Heikki, Studien zur Idee und Phraseologie des griechischen Briefes bis 400 n. Chr. (Annales Academia Scientiarum Fennica B, 102,2; Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1956)Google Scholar; White, John Lee, The Form and Function of the Body of the Greek Letter: A Study of the Letter-Body in the Non-Literary Papyri and in Paul the Apostle (SBLDS 2; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1972)Google Scholar.

¹¹ Excellent examples of such letters and a discussion of the way in which they were “mailed” were most recently presented by Eldon Jay Epp, “New Testament Papyrus Manuscripts and Letter Carrying in Greco-Roman Times,” in Birger A. Pearson, ed., The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991) 35-56.

¹² I shall not discuss in this context the pseudepigraphical school letter. The writing of such letters under the name of famous ancient philosophers or other historical figures belonged to the fundamentals of rhetorical education.

¹³ Mühll, P. van der, ed., Epicurus: Epistulae tres et Ratae sententiae a Laertio Diogene servatae (Teubner: Stuttgart, 1922)Google Scholar.

¹⁴ Attridge, Harold W., ed., First-Century Cynicism in the Epistles of Heraclitus (HTS 29; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1976)Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Younger, Pliny the, Letters and Panegyricus (2 vols.; LCL; trans. Radice, Betty; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann, 1969) 10.96, 97Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Exceptions are I Thessalonians, the oldest letter of the Pauline corpus that was jointly written by Paul, Timothy, and Silvanus; Philippians, which names as the senders “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus”; and Philemon, a private letter written to an individual. On I Thessalonians, see my article “1 Thessalonians—Experiment in Christian Writing,” in Church, F. Forrester and George, Timothy, eds., Continuity and Discontinuity in Church History: Essays presented to George Hunston Williams (Leiden: Brill, 1979) 33–44Google Scholar.

¹⁷ 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, I Thessalonians; Philemon names “the έκκλησία in your house” together with Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus. The Epistle to the Romans is addressed “to all the beloved of God who are in Rome, called saints” (Rom 1:7), Philippians “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi” (Phil 1:1).

¹⁸ Peterson, Erik (Die Kirche [München: Beck, 1929] 19)Google Scholar had once argued that the term should ήκκλήσία be understood in analogy to the Greek political usage: “that the λαός of the Christian ήκκλησία is the successor of the ancient δήμος (quoted from Schmidt, Karl Ludwig, “καλέω, κτλ., έκκλησία,” TDNT 3 [1965] 513 n. 27Google Scholar; the original was not accessible). However, the rejection of this interpretation by the influential article of Schmidt, Karl Ludwig (“καλέω, κτλ., έκκλησία” 506–36)Google Scholar has resulted in a general acceptance of the derivation of the term from the LXX, where “rip is usually translated by έκκλησία. It must be noted, however, that ancient Judaism preferred the term συναγωγή, and that in the Greek world the term έκκλησία is used exclusively in the political realm. It never occurs as a designation for a religious association; see Schmidt, , “καλέω, κτλ., έκκλησία 513–17Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Galatians.

²⁰ I Corinthian s 1-4.

²¹ Especially 2 Corinthians 10-13; see also Philippians 3.

²² I Corinthians 11; 14.

²³ Gal 2:10; 1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8 and 9; Rom 15:25-30.

²⁴ Professor Dieter Georgi, conversation. See also the discussion of financial matters in 1 Cor 9:13-18; Phil 4:10-20; 2 Cor 12:13-18.

²⁵ This has been demonstrated most persuasively with respect to the Epistle to the Galatians by Betz, Hans Dieter, Galatians: A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Churches in Galatia (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979), see esp. 14–25Google Scholar.

²⁶ The singular of the word έκκλησία is never used for the “church universal,” but always designates the Christian assembly in one city.

²⁷ This is evident in the earliest of the deutero-Pauline letters, the Epistle to the Colossians.

²⁸ Bowe, Barbara Ellen, A Church in Crisis: Ecclesiology and Paraenesis in Clement of Rome (HDR 23; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1988)Google Scholar.

²⁹ Ignatius Smyrn. 8.1-2 (trans. Schoedel, Ignatius, 238); the term ή καθολική έκκλησία naia appears for the first time in this letter of Ignatius. Schoedel (Ignatius, 243-44) has argued persuasively that the term καθολική cannot be understood as meaning “orthodox.” Rather, because of references to unauthorized assemblies in the context of the quoted passage, the term “carries with it an idea of organic unity or completeness” (p. 243).

³⁰ “The local congregation (πλήθος) for Ignatius is an organic unity under the bishop just as the universal church is an organic unity under Christ” (Schoedel, Ignatius, 244).

³¹ Polycarp Phil. 11. Note also the reference to the letters that Paul had once written to the Philippians (Phil. 3.2).

³² Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 5.24.11-17) has preserved portions of this letter in which Irenaeus also mentions the earlier visit of bishop Polycarp of Smyrna with Anicetus of Rome, reporting that Anicetus yielded the celebration of the eucharist to Polycarp although they continued t o disagree.

³³ In Eusebius Hist. eccl. 4.23.1-13.

³⁴ Ibid., 4.23.7-8 (this and the following translations are from Lake, Kirsopp, Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History [2 vols.; LCL; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959])Google Scholar.

³⁵ Ibid., 4.23.6.

³⁶ Ibid., 4.23.10.

³⁷ The collection of his preserved correspondence comprises a total of eighty-one letters. Of these sixty-five are written by Cyprian, and sixteen are addressed to him or to the church in Carthage. For an English translation, see Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. 51 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1964)Google Scholar.

³⁸ In addition to several fragments, only three letters are more fully preserved by Eusebius: his letter to Novatian of Rome (Hist. eccl. 6.45); his letter to Hierax (Hist. eccl. 7.21); and a letter about the persecution and the plague that followed upon it (Hist. eccl. 7.22-23).

³⁹ Hermoupolis is a city in Upper Egypt.

⁴⁰ There are several cities of this name; the seaport in northern Syria is probably meant here.

⁴¹ Eusebius Hist. eccl. 6.46.1-3, 5 (trans. Kirsopp Lake, LCL, modified). Later (Hist. eccl. 7.26.1-2) Eusebius says: “in addition to these letters of Dionysius there are extant also many others, as for example those against Sabellius to Ammon bishop of the church at Bernice, and that to Telesphorus, and that to Euphranor and Ammon again and Euporos.… And we have many letters of his besides these.”

⁴² See the remark of Dionysius of Corinth in his letter to Rome, that the letter sent to Corinth from Rome through Clement half a century earlier was still being read.

⁴³ The phrase occurs again in Rev 4:2; and compare Rev 17:3.

⁴⁴ Rev 2:7, 11, 17,29; 3:6, 13,22.

⁴⁵ Hermas (Vis. 1.1.3) begins with the report that the prophet was transported by the spirit to another place (καί πνεύμά με 7eacgr;λαβεν καί άπένενγκέν με); see also Herm. Vis. 2.1.1

⁴⁶ Hans von Campenhausen, “Das Alte Testament als Bibel der Kirche vom Ausgang des Urchristentums bis zur Entstehung des Neuen Testaments,” in idem, Aus der Frühzeit des Christentums: Studien zur Kirchengeschichte des ersten und zweiten Jahrhunderts (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1963) 152-96. A brief survey can be found in McDonald, Lee Martin, The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon (Nashville: Abingdon, 1988) 48–68Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ On this question see Janowitz, Naomi, “The Rhetoric of Translation: Three Early Perspectives on Translating Torah,” HTR 84 (1991) 129–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁸ Justin I Apol. 31.1. In this context, Justin repeats the story of the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into Greek under King Ptolemy; however, he does not ascribe inspiration to the translation (I Apol. 31.2-5).

⁴⁹ The most important evidence is the acceptance of the Jewish teachings of the “Two Ways” in the Didache and Barnabas.

⁵⁰ The basic monograph on Marcion remains Harnack, Adolf von, Marcion: Das Evangelium vomfremden Gott (TU 45; 2d ed.; 1924; reprinted Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1960).Google Scholar Also important is Knox, John, Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay on the Early History of the Canon (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942)Google Scholar; see further the treatment of Marcion in Campenhausen, Hans von, The Formation of the Christian Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1972) 147–68Google Scholar.

⁵¹ For this question as well as the following, see Koester, Helmut, Ancient Christian Gospels: Their History and Development (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990)Google Scholar.

⁵² Such interpretation of Jesus’ sayings appeared very early. It must be presupposed for the development of the Johannine discourses and dialogues, is perhaps visible in 1 Corinthians 1-4, and is clearly evident in the Gospel of Thomas.

⁵³ I want to acknowledge my indebtedness to Nagy, Gregory, Pindar's Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past (Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990).Google Scholar In this book, Gregory Nagy has constructed a model for the textual fixation of Homeric poetryni the context of Panhellenism and the Greek “polis”; see especially pp. 52-53. I am aware of the hazards involved in the construction of an analogous model that could explain what is known as the process of the canonization of the Christian Gospels. However, several analogies exist.

⁵⁴ That the oldest Gospel, Mark, is a passion narrative with an extended biographical introduction has become a commonplace in New Testament scholarship.

⁵⁵ I am using the term “recitation” to include both the reading, telling, and singing of psalms and passages from the prophets.

⁵⁶ It is important to distinguish this earliest process of the formation of narratives in analogy to the Psalms and the stories of the suffering prophet or servant of God (especially from Deutero-Isaiah) from the later attempts to provide scriptural proof (visible in Matthew and Justin Martyr); see Koester, , Ancient Christian Gospels, 220–40.Google Scholar It is my opinion that there was never anything that could be called a historical report or memory which was independent of the recitation of the fate of the suffering righteous in the scriptures of Israel.

⁵⁷ See above the discussion of the function of the Christian letter. See also Nagy, , Pindar's Homer, 52Google Scholar, concerning the intensified intercommunication of the city-states of Hellas.

⁵⁸ Nagy (Pindar's Homer, 52) uses the term Panhellenism for the analogous process in the preclassical period of Greece.

⁵⁹ See Campenhausen, von, Formation of the Christian Bible, 237–43Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ See above on Irenaeus's letter to Victor of Rome.

⁶¹ Or sometimes, as in Tertullian's writings, called the Vetus instrumentum and Novum instrumentum.

⁶² The Canon Muratori must be dated in the fourth century, not ca. 200 CE as is often argued; see Sundberg, Albert, “Canon Muratori: A Fourth-Century List,” HTR 66 (1973) 1–41Google Scholar.

⁶³ On Clement's concepts of inspiration and allegorical interpretation, see Campenhausen, von, Formation of the Christian Bible, 296–300Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ See Koester, , Ancient Christian Gospels, 293–95Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ However, for Clement of Alexandria, only the four Gospels form a clearly defined corpus, while it is not clear what other Christian writings can claim a similar status; see Campenhausen, von, Formation of the Christian Bible, 294–96Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ Ibid., 324.