The Codex had numerous advantages over the scroll. It was compact and economical, having double-sided pages that could hold twice the information on the same amount of papyrus as a single-sided scroll. It was also portable, a factor which made it a favorite among travelers and missionaries. But its most important feature, at least to early readers, was that now, for the first time, books were random-access, in contrast to their predecessors, which were distincly sequential-access only. This allowed readers -- Bible students in particular-- the luxury of turning to specific passages rather than having to scroll through an entire document, thus opening a whole new chapter in the practice of “Scripture interpreting Scripture”.
It is not surprising, therefore, that it was in fact Christian scribes and students who were by far the most enthusiastic early-adopters of this new-fangled technology. Extant copies of early Christian documents in the Codex format out-number non-Christian codices by nearly three to one, and outnumber the use of Christian scrolls by an even larger margin.1 (A prime example is the famous "Codex Sinaiticus" -- one of the most important books in the world, and the oldest substantial book to survive Antiquity. This book, which dates back to the early 4th century, contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.) There is significant evidence that Christians were using the Codex format as early as the middle of the 1st century. In fact, historians have suggested that the Apostle Paul himself may have been referring to Codex books when he instructed Timothy to “bring my scrolls, and especially my parchments” (2 Tim 4:13).2 Some have even wondered whether God didn’t actually inspire this invention just to further the propagation of His Gospel.3 Whether that be the case or not, it is clear that innovative scribes and evangelists made extensive use of this cutting-edge technology to powerfully and effectively spread the knowledge of the Glory of God over the face of the earth.
The Codex was a momentous game-changer in it's day. It was a technological leap that has stood the test of 2000 years' time. And though there now exists burgeoning technologies which may someday supplant it, they can never diminish the impact that the hardbound book made on the world. And as I reflect on the history of this brilliant invention, it motivates me to ask myself: what can we do today to follow in the footsteps of those apostolic early-adopters and harness some of the vanguard technologies of our own era to propagate and distill the life-changing message of God’s Word? I'm certainly not so presumptuous as to think I can contribute something that will last 1000 years or even 100; but I do believe that every good gift (including technology) comes from the One who is called "the Father of Lights" (Jas 1:17) -- which makes Him the Father of pixels too. And I believe He smiles when we strive to use those gifts and tools which He has bestowed upon us to enlighten the world.
Particularly the game-changing ones.
1 Hurtado, Larry, The earliest Christian artifacts : manuscripts and Christian origins, Grand Rapids, Mich. : William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2006, p. 47. (“at least 73% of the 3188 codices in LDAB are listed as Christian”).
2 Stanton, Graham, “Early Christian Preference for the Codex” Jrl for the Study of the NT Supplement Series, v.258 (2004; ed: Mark Goodacre), p.48; referencing McCormick " Typology, Codicology, and Papyrology ", Scriptorium 35 (1981), pp 331-334, 155.
3 "Biblewheel: Scroll vs. Codex" [website]
No comments:
Post a Comment