What are “private channels of text transmission,” “active scribal networks,” and who exerted power by what means?
12. Under the heading “The primacy of individual and private channels of text transmission,” the author analyzes the communication between the two churches in Philomelium and Smyrna, which resulted in the compilation of a written account about Polycarp’s martyrdom. She portrays “the initial stage of writing” as “a group effort: a circle of readers and writers at Smyrna prepare a written text and send it to the Philomelians, who in turn pass it on to other ‘brethren'” (80). From an analysis of the writing’s postscript the author seems to imply that this was an informal initiative among a couple of interested individuals. I can hardly see that this interpretation adequately deals with the rhetorical situation of that writing. Gerd Buschmann’s recent analysis of the terminology used in the postscript makes it very likely that we are dealing here with a letter of the genos “Paideutikon” between churches (and not individuals), invoking an authoritative substructure (Buschmann 1998:357-358).
