Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine.

Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine. By Graydon F. Snyder. Rev. ed. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2003. 325 pages. Cloth, $45.00; paper, $18.95.

Irish Jesus, Roman Jesus: The Formation of Early Irish Christianity. By Graydon F. Snyder. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003. vii and 280 pages. Paper. $24.00.

These two books by Graydon Snyder complement each other. Ante Pacem is a revised edition of a work first published in 1985. The new edition preserves the structure of the first edition but revises the content in the light of more recent research and reviewers' reactions to the first edition. Snyder concentrates on Rome for clear reasons--though he ranges throughout the Roman Empire. Snyder does not use non-Christian or early Christian literature as the glasses to interpret the material remains; rather he uses comparative material as an aid in interpreting the remains. He deals with iconographic symbols, pictorial representation in frescoes, mosaics, and sculpture, architecture, epigraphic texts and papyri (the last two cursorily). He illustrates the text with 47 figures and 50 photographic plates.

I have problems with details here and there. He often does not integrate the plates into his text, e.g. Plate 2, Paul on shipboard (p. 30). On p. 15 he uses the Latin phrase cum solo voce (with one voice); it should be simply uno voce. (Cum never has the sense he gives it.) On p. 24 he asserts, "One ... does not find narrative art prior to the peace of Constantine." This is certainly wrong about non-Christian art, as a quick glace at Mithraic art makes clear. But, having given such examples of items that need correction, I still recommend this volume as the best collection of early Christian materials in print.

How does one interpret the Christian theology of an early ethnic group when no texts survive? That is the problem Snyder faces in discussing early Celtic [Irish] Christianity. His solution is (1) to describe what can be known about Celtic art and history in general; (2) to examine and interpret carefully the surviving Celtic Christian art; and (3) to contrast it with the Christianity of another group, in this case "Roman Christianity" (known from Ante Pacem), which survives both in texts and art. It is a courageous book that moves into unknown territory.

Ancient Celts are ethnically related to the Gauls who entered Asia Minor and gave their name to Galatia, to Celts in Spain, in France, and in Ireland. After describing the prehistory of the Celts, Snyder discusses Paul's mission to and relationships with Galatian Christians. Paul introduced Jesus to Galatia. Snyder asks, What Jesus traditions were available to Paul in 49-56 C.E.? He uses the Old Testament, Mark, and Q to recreate this material (without asking how he knows that the latter two were known to Paul!). In short, he infers too much knowledge of this material in Paul. After a chapter in which he gives his reconstruction of "The Jesus Material in Paul's Teaching," he discusses "Paul and Spain." I find much of this material highly speculative--possible, but not persuasive.

He then turns to the history of the Celtic communities in Spain and Ireland. He does not give a similar description of the Gauls in (modern) France. There follows what is the most important part of the work, a description of the early Christians in Ireland, their art and architecture, and the use of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament in their art. He illustrates this with sixteen plates of Celtic crosses and other relevant art. Here he makes his greatest contribution to early Christian history. He frequently refers to art that is not illustrated in the book. (I wish the publisher had included more of his pictures of Celtic art, which I have seen.)

Snyder argues that Paul introduced the Jesus tradition to the Celts in Galatia, that it moved from there to Spain and from Spain to Ireland (see p. 216). He attempts a reconstruction of the Pauline Jesus tradition in an appendix. He notes that Pauline apocalyptic and eschatology did not survive, a major problem for this reconstruction. He interprets Pelagius, Patrick, and Columba as Celtic theologians.

This work is both speculative and stimulating, profoundly provocative and challenging. I look forward to the discussion it is bound to call forth. If you are interested in historical reconstruction based on minimal sources, this book is your meat.