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What does it mean to read the gospels “before the book”? For centuries, the way people have talked about the gospels has been shaped by ideas that have more to do with the printing press and modern notions of the author than they do with ancient writing and reading practices. Gospels Before the Book challenges several subtle yet problematic assumptions about authors, books, and publication at work in early Christian studies. The author explores a host of underappreciated elements of ancient textual culture, such as unfinished texts, accidental publication, postpublication revision, and multiple authorized versions of the same work. Turning to the gospels, he argues the earliest readers and users of the text we now call the Gospel according to Mark treated it not as a book published by an author but as an unfinished, open, and fluid collection of notes (hypomnēmata). The Gospel according to Matthew, then, would not be regarded as a separate book published by a different author but, rather, as a continuation of the same unfinished gospel tradition. Similarly, it is not the case that, of the five different endings in the textual tradition, one is “right” and the others are “wrong.” Rather, each ending represents its own effort to fill in what some perceived to be lacking in the Gospel according to Mark. The text of the Gospel according to Mark is better understood when approached as unfinished notes than as a book published by an author. Larsen also offers a new methodological framework for future scholarship on early Christian gospels.

Introduction. Sexual assault is a public health issue with many potential shortand long-term consequences for the victims. We aimed to investigate somatic health of women before and after sexual assault. Material and methods. We included 2501 women who attended the Centre for Victims of Sexual Assault in Copenhagen, and 10004 women without a known assault experience (controls). Somatic diagnoses were retrieved from the National Health Registry and number of visits to general practitioners from the Danish Health Insurance Registry. Somatic data were assessed during the five-year period before and after the assault. Results. The incidence of several somatic disorders was found to be significantly higher for the exposed women than for controls, both before and after the assault. Rate ratios of main disorders before and after the assault were respectively: disease of circulatory and respiratory system: 3.2 (2.6-4.1) and 2.6 (2.1-3.2); epilepsy: 2.9 (2.2-3.8) and 4.1 (3.0-5.6) and disease of the liver: 3.5 (1.9-6.3) and 7.0 (4.4-11.1), respectively. The rate ratios of laparoscopic surgery: 1.5 (0.9-2.5) and 3.4 (2.3-5.0) and of cervical cancer: 0.8 (0.4-1.7) and 2.0 (1.4-3.0) increased significantly after sexual assault. Likewise, the number of visits to a general practitioner was significantly higher in exposed women both before and after the assault (16 vs. 10/year). Complications associated with childbirth were not statistically different between the groups. Conclusions. Our results suggest a higher somatic morbidity in women seen at a sexual assault center before as well as after the assault compared with controls.