I was browsing through some of the titles in my University's Bookstore, today, and came across a book entitled "The Jesus Papyrus." Apparently, there is this relatively small fragment of papyrus from the book of Matthew (it only contains four of Christ's statements) that has been found in a Museum or University somewhere and that can be <i>reliably dated to before <b>70 AD</b></i>, and likely between <b>30-60 AD</b>. For reference, Christ is thought to have died around 30 +/- 2 AD (depending on which year his birth was in). This puts its time of writting to under forty years of the events in the book, at which time there would have definately been eyewitnesses to vouch for its credibility. The book was about ten dollars. I haven't bought it, but I might come Tuesday... ~Caleb
Caleb, Don't waste your money, the author is a fraud. See this book review - http://www.bowness.demon.co.uk/thiede.htm The earliest such texts are thought to date before 300CE, this particular text is not on the experts list for those times. And dating such texts seems to be within an accuracy of +/- 25 years. Cris
Thanks!!! You convinced me to get it! Now I know its by a conservative author, and I don't have to worry about getting a book that does nothing but criticize Christianity. Thanks again, ~Caleb
Time Magazine, April 8, 1996, wrote about the papyrus as "the most important breakthrough in Biblical research since the 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Time says that if correct, the thesis means that Matthew's and Mark's Gospel is not the secondhand account of Evangelists who lived decades before Jesus, but were eyewitness testimony by near contemporaries of Jesus. A particularly intriguing discovery: "In three places on the Magdalen Papyrus, the name of Jesus is written as KS, an abbreviation of the Greek word Kyrios, or Lord. Thiede contends that this shorthand is proof that early Christians considered Jesus a nomen sacrum (sacred name), much the way devout Jews emphasized the holiness of God's name by shortening it to the tetragrammaton YHWH. Thus the perception of Jesus as divine was not a later development of Christian faith but a firm belief of the early church" Sounds like a very worthwhile book to read.
Which is what Christians have been saying all along. Yet more evidence of the authenticity of Scripture. I'll get the book for sure. :-D ~Caleb
