Peter Arzt-Grabner "Letters and Letter Writing" (Brill U Schoningh, 2023)

Sep 12, 2025

Join Peter Arzt-Grabner, an expert in papyrology and biblical studies, as he unpacks the fascinating world of ancient letters. He compares New Testament letters with everyday correspondence from Greco-Roman times, revealing the literary prowess of figures like Paul of Tarsus. The discussion touches on how these letters illuminate socio-economic dynamics, including complexities of ancient slavery. Arzt-Grabner also shares insights on the challenges of letter delivery in the Roman Empire, offering a deeper understanding of communication in historical contexts.

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ANECDOTE

Career Pivot To Papyrology

Peter Arzt-Grabner describes switching from theology to classics and then into papyrology after teaching a class comparing Paul's letters with papyrus letters.
A visit to the Vienna papyrus collection and support from its director sparked his fascination and career shift to papyrology.

INSIGHT

Letters Reveal Everyday Antiquity

Papyrus letters illuminate everyday ancient life more vividly than literary papyri or formal documents like tax receipts.
Their variety shows recurring human problems across 2,000 years, making ancient people relatable to modern readers.

ANECDOTE

A Soldier's Thankfulness Sparked Research

He recounts a Berlin papyrus (BGU 423) from a soldier thanking Serapis after surviving a sea journey, which prompted comparing papyrus thanksgivings with Paul's.
That close comparison revealed Paul used the thanksgiving convention similarly but adapted it to announce received good news about communities' spiritual well-being.

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New Testament letters are compared with private, business, and administrative letters of Greco-Roman antiquity and analyzed against this background. More than 11,800 Greek and Latin letters – preserved on papyrus, potsherds, and tablets from Egypt, Israel, Asia Minor, North Africa, Britain, and Switzerland – have been edited so far. Among them are not only short notes by writers with poor writing skills, but also extensive letters and correspondences from highly educated authors. They testify to the literary skills of Paul of Tarsus, who knew how to make excellent use of epistolary formulas and even introduced new variations. They also show that some New Testament letters clearly fall outside the framework of standard epistolography, raising new questions about their authors and their genre. The introductions and discussions offered in this volume reflect the current state of the art and present new research results. Letters and Letter Writing (Brill U Schoningh, 2023) also presents over 130 papyrus and ostracon letters newly translated in their entirety.

Peter Arzt-Grabner is Associate Professor and head of the Papyrological Research Unit at the Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History at the University of Salzburg. He is the author of Philemon (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003) and 2. Korintherbrief (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013) as well as the co-author of More Light from the Ancient Near East: Understanding the New Testament through Papyri (Brill, 2023; with John S. Kloppenborg and Christina M. Kreinecker). He is also a series editor for Papyri and the New Testament (Brill) and Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).

Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023).

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