A Christian library or theological library is a kind of library that has its origins in the Jewish religion whose practice and transmission depended on the keeping and duplication of sacred texts. Like Judaism, Christianity depends fundamentally on the preservation and study of a sacred text. From this it follows that the texts and the secondary literature will be collected for the use of the literate members of the religious communities and passed on to succeeding generations.
Early Christian libraries
The integral relationship between Christianity and its texts has always ensured a central place for books, for learning, and for libraries among Christians. The passing of two millennia has witnessed changes in the manner and intensity of Christian scholarship, yet it has always been the case that theological learning is inconceivable without libraries and librarians doing the work both of collecting the theological insights of the past and anticipating future theological and religious trends.
The establishment of the Christian canon has classically been a subject of central interest to the Christian religion (though in more recent years it has become a special study for theologians and textual critics). It also has a direct bearing on the origins of Christian libraries. As preliminary consensus in the formation of a canon was arrived at, early Christian communities would typically entrust to a member of the community the task of providing care and security for those documents that authentically represented the identity and cohesion of each community in this upstart (and frequently embattled) religion.
The impulse to keep valued texts and documents safe but accessible shaped the patterns of early collections, and the first recorded mention of early Christian library activity comes down to us from a context of hostility. Under the Emperor Diocletian (3rd-century), a series of edicts against the Christians included orders that Christian books be seized and destroyed. From this it can reasonably be inferred that it was typical for a local Christian assembly to possess a collection of texts of one kind or another, and that the authorities considered the destruction of such materials to be an essential part of suppressing the Christian faith.
The library at Jerusalem
Bishop Alexander of Jerusalem established a library during his tenure (first half of the 3rd century): this is known from the records of an actual “reader”, Eusebius of Caesarea, who mentions some of the works he found there. Possibly Alexander's library had as its model the notable Classical collection of Alexandria: it may be that while still in the Egyptian city, Origen encouraged his student Alexander to initiate a center for study in Jerusalem.
The library at Caesarea
Origen influenced the establishment of the early Christian library of greatest renown, that at Caesarea, based on his own private collection. The great Jerome was later associated with this library, although a lot of the specific library work appears to have been the task of Pamphilus who, according to Jerome, “searched throughout the world for examples that were true and eternal monuments of gifted writers.” Through these efforts, the library grew to include thousands of volumes, a staggering accomplishment when one considers the labor involved in copying by hand. The breadth and quality of this collection is attested by the range of sources cited by Eusebius, who relied on this library in research for his works. Primary collections included all the works of Origen, as well as contemporaries such as Clement of Alexandria, Apollinaris, Justin, Irenaeus, and virtually all the important ecclesiastical writers of the period. Since the library performed the critical functions of copying, revising and gathering texts into usable selections, scriptural texts were present in abundance.
Preservation issues also presented themselves: we have record of there having been projects to “convert” the library (or at least its most heavily used segments) from papyrus to parchment. Caesarea's was, in almost every modern sense, principally a research rather than a congregational or liturgical library. In this setting ambitious critical works were housed, and ever more ambitious and critical works were written, and it would be some time before any Christian library again rose to the standard set in Caesarea.