Between the Lines: Looking for the Contributions of Enslaved Literate Laborers in a Second Century Text (P. Berol. 11632)

Candida Moss

doi:10.1525/sla.2021.5.3.432

Between the Lines: Looking for the Contributions of Enslaved Literate Laborers in a Second Century Text (P. Berol. 11632)

Candida Moss^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Theology and Religion

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Recent scholarship on writing and literacy in the Roman world has been attentive to the role of enslaved literate workers in the production of texts. Yet when it comes to evaluating the potential contributions of enslaved laborers we find ourselves at an impasse. How can we identify changes that an enslaved writer might have introduced? How could we assume that any element of the text comes from a secretary rather than the slaveholding “author”? And if enslaved secretaries were at liberty to make changes to a text, how would we recognize these alterations? Utilizing the method of critical fabulation and revisions to a particular literary fragment (P. Berol. 11632) as a test-case, this article explores the range of collaborative possibilities that can account for textual revisions and asks what difference it might make to view such changes as the product of enslaved workers and their experience.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	432-452
Number of pages	21
Journal	Studies in Late Antiquity
Volume	5
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1525/sla.2021.5.3.432
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2021

Keywords

Slavery
Enslaved Workers
Literary Culture
Writing
Books

Access to Document

10.1525/sla.2021.5.3.432Licence: None: All rights reserved

MossC2021Between
This is the final published version of the following article: Candida R. Moss; 'Between the Lines: Looking for the Contributions of Enslaved Literate Laborers in a Second-Century Text (P. Berol. 11632)', Studies in Late Antiquity, Vol.5, Number3, pp.432–452, electronic ISSN 2470-2048 © 2021 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, http://sla.ucpress.edu/content/permissions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/ sla.2021 5.3.432
Final published version, 318 KBLicence: None: All rights reserved

1 Book

God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible
Moss, C., 28 Mar 2024, London: Harper Collins. 336 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book

2 Guest lecture or Invited talk

Enslavement and Early Christian Literature
Moss, C. (Invited speaker)
23 Feb 2023
Activity: Academic and Industrial events › Guest lecture or Invited talk
Why Don't Romans Blame their Secretaries
Moss, C. (Invited speaker)
6 Mar 2021
Activity: Academic and Industrial events › Guest lecture or Invited talk

Cite this

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abstract = "Recent scholarship on writing and literacy in the Roman world has been attentive to the role of enslaved literate workers in the production of texts. Yet when it comes to evaluating the potential contributions of enslaved laborers we find ourselves at an impasse. How can we identify changes that an enslaved writer might have introduced? How could we assume that any element of the text comes from a secretary rather than the slaveholding “author”? And if enslaved secretaries were at liberty to make changes to a text, how would we recognize these alterations? Utilizing the method of critical fabulation and revisions to a particular literary fragment (P. Berol. 11632) as a test-case, this article explores the range of collaborative possibilities that can account for textual revisions and asks what difference it might make to view such changes as the product of enslaved workers and their experience.",

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Between the Lines: Looking for the Contributions of Enslaved Literate Laborers in a Second Century Text (P. Berol. 11632)

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible

Activities

Enslavement and Early Christian Literature

Why Don't Romans Blame their Secretaries

Cite this