The Jesus Papyrus: The Most Sensational Evidence on the Origin of the Gospel Since the Discover of the Dead Sea Scrolls

by Matthew d'Ancona and Carsten Peter Thiede

Book Overview

In 1901, the Reverend Charles B. Huleatt acquired three pieces of a New Testament manuscript on the murky antiquities market of Luxor, Egypt. He donated these papyrus fragments to his alma mater, Magdalen College in Oxford, England, where they sat in a display case and drew very little attention. Nearly a century later, the fragments--part of the Gospel of Matthew and thought to date from a.d. 180-200--were reevaluated by scholar Carsten Peter Thiede...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038548898X
• ISBN13: 9780385488983
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Thiede's plausible thesis needs more evidence

"Suffice it to say that the most respected and experienced scholars who have examined the evidence are not convinced that the comparative texts which Thiede claims lead to his early dating actually do support his conclusions." J. K. Elliott, University of Leeds The Jesus Papyrus: In a science fiction book written by German scholar Carsten Thiede and Matthew d'Ancona, a Times of London journalist, who originally broke the story, the public could satisfy their religious curiosity. Indeed, the Magdalen Papyrus corroborates three traditions: Saint Matthew actually wrote the Gospel bearing his name; he wrote it within a generation of Jesus' death; and the Gospel stories about Jesus were still vivid, not only true. The fragments of the papyrus, identified as the Gospel of St Matthew, are dated at Ca. AD 66. With the revised dates arrived at by means of paleological dating, they could have been set earlier than their actual date. This means that the debate of the examination of the dating of the New Testament papyri is not at its end, but rather at its beginning. professors Philip Comfort and David Barret in their book Text of the Earliest NT Greek Manuscripts argue for a general date of 150-175 for the manuscript. Ancient Text Dating: Expert palaeographers are able to determine the rough parameters for the dates of their texts to within plus or minus 25 years; this is done on the basis of comparisons of the style of lettering in the literary texts with identical handwriting styles in texts whose dates are known. There was a tendency earlier this century to date Christian papyri too late, partly because it was not realised that Christian biblical papyri written in a codex, as opposed to scrolls began as early as has subsequently been proved to be the case. Thus several previously established late datings for these Biblical codices have had to be revised in favour of an earlier date. Almost sixty of our earliest surviving New Testament manuscripts are now accepted to have been written before 300 A.D. Papyrus 64, however, is not our earliest. New papyrus fragments? Despite the impression then generated by the press, Thiede's book did not present a newly discovered text: the manuscript had possessed ever by Magdalen College library, Oxford, since it was presented to them, more than a century ago, by a former student. In 1901, the Rvrd Charles Huleatt acquired three pieces of a New Testament papyrus fragments in Luxor, Egypt, and donated them to Magdalen College, where they were displayed in a case, drawing little attention. Nearly a century later, a German scholar, papyrologist Carsten P. Thiede, reevaluated the fragmentary parts of the Gospel of Matthew, initially thought to date from AD 180-200, showing them to be slightly, though significantly older, and proposed they were written about AD 60. Some vehemently denied Dr. Thiede's claims, others would have embraced them, but nobody could ignore the impact of The Jesus Papyrus, which caused a cha

Thiede's plausible thesis needs more evidence

"Suffice it to say that the most respected and experienced scholars who have examined the evidence are not convinced that the comparative texts which Thiede claims lead to his early dating actually do support his conclusions." J. K. Elliott, University of Leeds The Jesus Papyrus: In a science fiction portrayal book written by German scholar Carsten Thiede, and Matthew d'Ancona, a Times of London journalist, who originally broke the story. The public could satisfy their religious curiosity, due to the vivid graphical discription of three discovered papyrus scraps, even if a study was previously published in Harvard Theological Review, in 1953, four decades before d'Ancona's story broke out in the London newspaper lobby. The Magdalen Papyrus testify to three traditions; Saint Matthew, in person, wrote the Gospel carrying his name; within a generation of Jesus' death; while the Gospel stories about Jesus were still vivid, not only ex memoria. The papyrus scraps, identified as three fragments of the Gospel of St Matthew, are dated at Ca. AD 66. With the revised dates arrived at by means of paleological dating, they could have been set earlier than their actual date. This means that the debate on the examination and dating of the New Testament papyri is not at its end, but rather at its beginning. In their book, Text of the Earliest NT Greek Manuscripts, Ph. Comfort and D. Barret argue for a general date of 150-175 for the manuscript. Ancient Text Dating: Expert palaeographers are able to determine the rough parameters for the dates of their texts to within plus or minus 25 years; this is done on the basis of comparisons of the style of lettering in the literary texts with identical handwriting styles in texts whose dates are known. There was a tendency earlier this century to date Christian papyri too late, partly because it was not realised that Christian biblical papyri written in a codex, as opposed to scrolls began as early as has subsequently been proved to be the case. Thus several previously established late datings for these Biblical codices have had to be revised in favour of an earlier date. Almost sixty of our earliest surviving New Testament manuscripts are now accepted to have been written before 300 A.D. Papyrus 64, however, is not our earliest. New papyrus fragments? Despite the impression then generated by the press, Thiede's book did not present a newly discovered text: the manuscript had possessed ever by Magdalen College library, Oxford, since it was presented to them, more than a century ago, by a former student. In 1901, the Rvrd Charles Huleatt acquired three pieces of a New Testament papyrus fragments in Luxor, Egypt, and donated them to Magdalen College, where they were displayed in a case, drawing little attention. Nearly a century later, a German scholar, papyrologist Carsten P. Thiede, reevaluated the fragmentary parts of the Gospel of Matthew, initially thought to date from AD 180-200, showing them to be slight

Shines new light on Scripture's Antiquity

The Jesus Papyrus by Matthew D'Ancona reads like an ancient detective story. If D'Ancona is correct in his early dating of Matthew, then all the synoptic gospels are much more contemporary with the Apostles than scripture scholars previously thought. They are therefore more historically reliable then previously reckoned, because those who were eye witnesses to the events were still alive and able to give testimony to their historical aspects. It does not make the Gospels biography or history. However, the historical elements in them are now more dependable. This book will cause liberal scholars to deal with its well-reasoned hypothesis.

Eyewitness to Jesus?

A few of scraps of papyrus seemingly stand the world of New Testament scholarship on its head. The scraps are believed to be from the Gospel of Matthew. When they were discovered, they were dated to the time period 80-100 A.D. Thiede re-examines the scraps and finds them to date from around 60 A.D. Such a dating would mean that Matthew's Gospel most likely was written by an eyewitness. It would also mean that the four document hypothesis, that well-respected mainstay of Gospel scholarship, is dead wrong. Thiede tries manfully to explain how he came to the dating. In so doing, he must explain the arcane, esoteric, and almost impenetrable world of papyrology. It makes for slow, painful reading, and students who are not familiar with the science of the study of papyrus scraps will have to take much of what Thiede says on faith. Those of a conservative bent will readily embrace Thiede's findings; the more liberal Bible students will not. Whichever side you take, or even if you fall somewhere in the middle, you should find it worth your effort to read this book. Caveat Emptor: This is a reprint. Thiede first published this book as "Eyewitness to Jesus." If you've already read "Eyewitness," you might want to purchase something else.

Very Informative!

I finished this book in two days and found it very intriguing as to a topic new to me. Prior to my reading, I thought that the Egyptian found early 2nd century fragment of John's gospel was the earliest recovered piece of New Testament literature. However, this book proves that 3 fragments, also Egyptian found, are pre-Jerusalem destruction (AD 70) although once dated as 3rd-4th century. This book will be beneficial and faith augmenting to Christians because it shows that Matthew's gospel was written in the 60s of the first century, if not earlier, contrary to the vein of critical scholars who late date the New Testament and claim the real Jesus is clouded by post-destruction inventions. With this earlier, more historically reliable dating of the Matthean fragments, we can put Mark's gospel at an even earlier date! Speaking of the Markan account, this book also goes into some depth in establishing that a fragment found in Cave 7 at Qumran (home to the Dead Sea Scrolls) is indeed a portion of Mark, making its latest date AD 68. The authors do very well in justifying their conclusions, which they do also by juxtaposition of the fragments and other works of antiquity in what seems to be a valid methodology. I feel the Magdalen papyrus (the 3 Matthean fragments as to which the title refers) could very possibly to some extent revolutionize New Testament historical thinking by serving as a new paradigm. Anyone interested in Papyrology or New Testament historicity should read The Jesus Papyrus!