denied access to Agnellus’ work at Ravenna’s episcopal library
(Momigliano 1990: 133).
2 The statement comes in the introductory diatribe against ‘the theories
of certain Protestant archaeologists’ (Marucchi 1929: 1–29). The tenor
of Marucchi’s opinions can be divined from the opening sentence that
recounts how ‘the majestic unity of Christendom in the West was
destroyed, thanks to Luther’ (1929: 1). Of course, Protestant scholars
were equally guilty of such biases, as the examples of Gilbert Burnet
and Conyers Middleton (see p. 57) show. The influence of such views
has been long lasting. Consider, for example, the Origines ecclesias-
tici: the antiquities of the Christian church(published 1708–22) of
Joseph Bingham (1668–1723). This work – like those of Burnet and
Middleton – was concerned to show the purity of the primitive church
prior to its corruption in the Catholic ‘Dark Ages’. Yet its influence
has been considerable: it was used as a textbook in Anglican univer-
sities until the early twentieth century; comparatively recently it has
been described as ‘unsurpassed’ by Lane Fox 1986: 9. For a recent
discussion, see O’Loughlin 2001: 124–8 (a useful study marred, how-
ever, by the mistaken impression that Bingham wrote in the late
nineteenth century).3 The search for early Christianity: sources and their interpretation
1 On this and other examples from the author called Luke (who also
probably wrote Acts), see Frederiksen 2000: 31.
2 An eighth-century manuscript preserved at Milan contains a descrip-
tion, known after its first editor Ludovico Antonio Muratori as the
Muratorian canon, of the contents of the New Testament. The date of
the original text that was copied into the manuscript is hotly debated:
some date it as early as the second century; others see it as belonging
to a much later period. For a brief discussion of the issues (with fur-
ther references to the large bibliography on the topic) see Metzger
1987: 191–201 (favouring a later date) and Stanton 2004: 68–71 (argu-
ing for the earlier date).
3 For further examples, related to teachings of sexual and dietary absti-
nence, see Pagels 1988: 16–25.
4 I do not have space to discuss these here, but the problems are high-
lighted in any of the guides to New Testament writings listed in chap-
ter 7 (e.g. Schnelle 1998: 365–433).NOTES
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