"From the very beginning Christianity was a religion of books - a lived, but also a written faith. The essays in this collection focus on the ways in which books were produced, used, treasured, and conceptualized in the early Christian centuries (AD 100-600). Written by experts in the field, the essays in this volume examine the early Christian book from a wide range of disciplines: religion, art history, history, Near Eastern studies, and classics. Topics include theories of the book, book production and use, books as sacred objects, and problems of gender, authorship, and authority." "By examining Christian books from multiple perspectives, this book invites readers into the entire "bookish" world of early Christianity: a world of writing and reading practices, of copying and exchanging texts, of persuading and debating with books, and of representing holiness and power through codices of the law, the scriptures, and the lives of the saints. Essays cover a wide geographical range and discuss texts written all across the Mediterranean world - in Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and Hebrew. All ancient texts are translated into English, some for the first time." "Intended for general readers, students, and scholars alike - anyone with a serious interest in early Christianity."--BOOK JACKET.