The Letters of Ignatius of Antioch between Forgery and Fiction

FAIN: FT-279170-21

James Gregory Given
Yale University (New Haven, CT 06510-1703)

Research and writing leading to a book on the multiple interpretations of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch (c. early 2nd century CE).

The letters of Ignatius of Antioch seem to offer a tantalizing view into the earliest phase of Christianity. But the collection exists in many different versions, of widely varying length and composition. Scholarly efforts from the 16th to the 19th centuries sought to determine which version, if any, is the authentic witness of Ignatius. These efforts stimulated developments in critical methods and historical argumentation, practices which are foundational to the modern humanities. The solutions eventually proffered by these methods, however, only partially account for the manuscript evidence from antiquity. Against centuries of efforts to fix a single authentic Ignatius, I demonstrate that the letters are best interpreted as an “open text,” a corpus constitutively open to rearrangement, excerpting, or expansion. This allows us to see how the collection is adapted to function within specific historical and literary contexts—even, I suggest, as fictional narrative.

Associated Products

How Coherent is the Ignatian Middle Recension? The View from the Coptic Versions of the Letters of Ignatius (Article)
Title: How Coherent is the Ignatian Middle Recension? The View from the Coptic Versions of the Letters of Ignatius
Author: J. Gregory Given
Abstract: Over the past century and a half, most scholars have presumed that the earliest Greek text of the letters of Ignatius is a seven-letter collection known as the 'Middle Recension'. This article aims to trouble the three-recension model of the textual transmission of the Ignatian letters, which undergirds this consensus. First, the article presents an overview of the manuscript witnesses to the 'Middle Recension', illustrating the diverse texts collected together under the umbrella of this purportedly singular 'recension'. Then the article takes a close look at the two extant Coptic versions of the letters of Ignatius, which present unique selections and arrangements of the collection unaccounted for by the three-recension model. These versions also contain distinctive textual variants that evince interpretive engagement and further illustrate the model’s heuristic limitations. Instead of interpreting the Coptic versions as mere witnesses to the Greek text, the article argues that the Coptic texts represent valuable evidence for the processes by which the memory of the earliest period of Christianity was re-crafted to constitute a usable past in late antique and medieval Egypt.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: http://doi.org/10.2143/ETL.98.3.3290973
Primary URL Description: Direct link to the journal publisher's page for the article.
Secondary URL: http://https://www.dropbox.com/s/9w6ilx1jvysplnl/Given%20-%20Coptic%20Ignatius.pdf?dl=0
Secondary URL Description: Direct link to a PDF download for the Open Access article.
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses

Discerning Fiction in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Discerning Fiction in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch
Author: J. Gregory Given
Abstract: Over the past four hundred years of scholarship, prevailing concerns with the evidentiary value of the letters of Ignatius have prevented consideration of the literary and narrative potential of this collection. This paper takes up the recent revival of interest in ancient epistolary fiction to consider the question: Can the letters of Ignatius be read as a work of fiction? What signs might suggest fictionality to us? (Would they suggest the same to ancient readers?) In order to gain traction on these questions, I closely analyze the correspondence between Ignatius of Mary of Cassabola which opens the so-called "Long Recension" of the collection. I argue that the Long Recension has a clear narrative arc and erotic undertones familiar from the ancient novels. This realization suggests that early phases of the letter collection, too, might have such "fictional" features.
Date: 2/4/2023

Discerning Fiction in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (Article)
Title: Discerning Fiction in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch
Author: J. Gregory Given
Abstract: Interpretive difficulties in the letters attributed to Ignatius of Antioch have long suggested to some readers that these letters are pseudepigrapic. This article builds upon recent work on ancient letter collections to consider whether some versions of Ignatius's letters might be read as works of fiction. Acknowledging the epistemological difficulty of recognizing ancient epistolary fiction, I present an initial reading of the Greek Long Recension that highlights the narrative arc and some literary tropes evident in the collection. In particular, I compare the correspondence between Ignatius and Mary of Cassabola with features of the imperial romances, especially a notable letter exchange in Leucippe and Clitophon.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.1628/ec-2023-0028
Primary URL Description: A direct link to the publisher's page for this article.
Access Model: Subscription only. Will be open-access for non-commercial purposes after 1 year.
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Early Christianity
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

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