The Epistles for All Christians

This thesis argues that the authorship and circulation of epistolary literature is relevant for the Gospels for All Christians debate. Thus far in the Gospels for all Christians debate epistolary literature and circulation have been marginalized. This thesis puts epistolary literature at the center of the discussion. I show that 1) many early Christian authors expected their texts to circulate to multiple locales; 2) early Christians circulated both epistolary literature and gospels beyond their initial audiences. This second, seemingly banal, observation shows that early Christians did not view the generic distinction as a significant one, insofar as it relates to circulation to broad audiences. The circulation to multiple locales expected by the author and the circulation beyond initial audiences strongly suggest connected communities through which the texts circulated in keeping with the predominant means of circulation in the ancient world. In light of these observations, it would be incumbent on anyone who would with to argue that a gospel was written for an isolated community to present an argument for such a community.