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sl8

(16,245 posts)
Tue Jun 18, 2024, 04:59 AM Jun 2024

Newly deciphered manuscript is oldest written record of Jesus Christ's childhood, experts say

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/manuscript-deciphered-jesus-christ-childhood-oldest-written-record-experts-say/

Newly deciphered manuscript is oldest written record of Jesus Christ's childhood, experts say

By Kerry Breen
Updated on: June 13, 2024 / 11:23 AM EDT / CBS News

A newly deciphered manuscript dating back 1,600 years has been determined to be the oldest record of Jesus Christ's childhood, experts said in a news release.

The piece of papyrus has been stored in a university library in Hamburg, Germany, for decades, historians at Humboldt University announced. The document "remained unnoticed" until Dr. Lajos Berkes, from Germany's Institute for Christianity and Antiquity at Humboldt University in Berlin, and professor Gabriel Nocchi Macedo, from Belgium's University of Liège, studied it and identified it as the earliest surviving copy of the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas," a document detailing Jesus Christ's childhood.

The translation marks a "significant discovery for the research field," Humboldt University said. Until now, it was believed that the earliest version of this gospel was a codex from the 11th century.



The papyrus fragment.
STAATS- UND UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK HAMBURG/PUBLIC DOMAIN MARK 1.0


The document translated by Berkes and Macedo was dated between the 4th and 5th century. The stories in the document are not in the Bible, the news release said, but the papyrus contains anecdotes that would have been widely shared in the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The few words on the fragment describe a "miracle" that Jesus performed as a child, according to the Gospel of Thomas, which says he brought clay figures of birds to life.

[...]


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Newly deciphered manuscript is oldest written record of Jesus Christ's childhood, experts say (Original Post) sl8 Jun 2024 OP
Erich von Daniken wrote that, over 1,000 years ago, many tall tales circulated about Yeshua of Nazareth. John1956PA Jun 2024 #1
Never fear!!! wolfie001 Jun 2024 #2
So, if we have a new account of Christ's youth dating back 1600 years... calguy Jun 2024 #3
The first version of the bible FirefighterJo Jun 2024 #5
you mean our current version edhopper Jun 2024 #6
Yes, though FirefighterJo Jun 2024 #7
Not really true; 4th century for basically the current New Testament muriel_volestrangler Jun 2024 #9
It is not a record of anything other than Voltaire2 Jun 2024 #4
No, it's not a written record of Jesus' childhood DavidDvorkin Jun 2024 #8

John1956PA

(3,367 posts)
1. Erich von Daniken wrote that, over 1,000 years ago, many tall tales circulated about Yeshua of Nazareth.
Tue Jun 18, 2024, 05:20 AM
Jun 2024

My reading of a few of Mr. Daniken's books did not convince me of visits to our planet by extraterrestrials, but it did cause me to question the integrity of the four gospels of the Bible.

wolfie001

(3,623 posts)
2. Never fear!!!
Tue Jun 18, 2024, 06:51 AM
Jun 2024

A new Ark expedition to Ararat should settle this once and for all!!!

ps: give me all yo money.

calguy

(5,767 posts)
3. So, if we have a new account of Christ's youth dating back 1600 years...
Tue Jun 18, 2024, 07:08 AM
Jun 2024

and Christ was supposedly born 2024 years ago, then this was written what...? Four hundred years after the fact?

muriel_volestrangler

(102,473 posts)
9. Not really true; 4th century for basically the current New Testament
Mon Jun 24, 2024, 09:58 AM
Jun 2024
Codex Sinaiticus

Date 4th century (after 325 AD)

The books of the New Testament are arranged in this order: the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul (Hebrews follows 2 Thess.), the Acts of the Apostles, the General Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus

The 4th century was when Constantine put the weight of the Roman Empire behind Christianity, and got many areas of it standardized.

Voltaire2

(14,700 posts)
4. It is not a record of anything other than
Tue Jun 18, 2024, 07:29 AM
Jun 2024

what stories were being told and written about Jesus between 300-400 ce. That is centuries after any person who might have been the basis of the Jesus myths lived.

Consider the myth you were taught in school about George Washington and the cherry tree. The origin of that myth is much closer in time to the childhood of Washington than these stories are.

DavidDvorkin

(19,889 posts)
8. No, it's not a written record of Jesus' childhood
Tue Jun 18, 2024, 03:21 PM
Jun 2024

It's merely another, older written version of the mythology.

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