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Eyewitness to Jesus Eventually Convinced by University 22 SSeeccttiioonn AA MARCH 2008 The Woodside News THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE BY WILLIAM T. PELLETIER, PH.D [WOODSIDE NEWS COLUMNIST] Eyewitness to Jesus eventually convinced by University. Huelatt was a British sherds with Greek inscriptions) from Thiede’s rigorous arguments, scholar and evangelical missionary to Masada. Dr. Thiede based this identi- EYEWITNESS races across but others were not. Egypt who died with his family in the fication on painstaking analysis of the cover in big black letters! Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede Messina (Italy) earthquake. numerous Greek handwriting charac- Is this thriller a murder mys- (1952-2004) is the late At the time they were donated by teristics and on extensive comparisons tery? The very first page German scholar and leading Huelatt, the manuscript fragments of calligraphy on many manuscripts. plunges the reader into a fasci- manuscript authority who were dated to the 4th century by His conclusions dynamited the foun- nating investigation throbbing did the scholarly research on Oxford scholars Arthur Hunt and dations of liberal NT criticism. with suspense and intrigue: the Magdalen Papyrus. He Bernard Grenfell. Their basis for the Thiede’s investigation was the first “On Christmas Eve, 1994, WILLIAM T. PELLETIER was Director of the Institute 4th century date was the observation time Greek fragments from the Dead PH.D. The Times of London reported for Basic Epistemological that the 3 fragments had writing on Sea Scrolls had been used for compar- on its front page an astonishing Research in Paderborn, both sides and were therefore from a ative purposes to date other Greek lit- claim made by the German Biblical schol- Germany. Matthew d’Ancona is the erature. It is well-known ar Carsten Peter Thiede. ‘A papyrus British journalist who broke the story M that the latest possible O C . believed to be the oldest extant fragment in 1994 in The Times of London. R archaeological date for the K C I of the New Testament has been found in L Dead Sea Scrolls is 68 F N an Oxford library,’ the newspaper said. ‘It EARLY DATE FOR MATTHEW O A.D., the year the Qumran N R provides the first material evidence that Why do 2000-year-old papyrus frag- T settlement was abandoned A P the Gospel according to St. Matthew is an ments rank among the most important Y immediately prior to the B O eyewitness account written by con- documents in the world? It is because T arrival of the Roman O H temporaries of Christ.’” they show a very early date for P legions. Similarly, the lat- “The story concerned the Gospel of Matthew! est date for the Masada three tiny scraps of paper I have long been con- Greek ostraca is 73/74 belonging to vinced that Matthew was A.D. when Masada was Magdalen College, the first gospel written. overrun by the Romans. In Oxford...On both This accords with the 79 A.D., Herculaneum sides of the fragments universal belief of the was destroyed by the erup- appeared Greek script, church in the primacy of tion of Mt. Vesuvius, so 79 phrases from the Matthew prior to the A.D. must be the latest twenty-sixth chapter 19th-century ascendancy possible date for the of St. Matthew, of form criticism. Today Herculaneum Greek which describes Jesus’ anointment in most scholars disagree, but one papyri. the house of Simon the leper at Bethany important indicator is that the early Since the Magdalen and his betrayal to the chief priests by church placed it first in the New Papyrus is contemporary Judas Iscariot...Thiede argued that they Testament canon. A second cru- with these 3 collections, were of astonishingly early origin, dating cial clue is church fathers’ testimony it must have been written from the mid-first century A.D.” (Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome) that Matthew wrote his gospel WORLDWIDE SENSATION first in Hebrew (Aramaic) before The book is Eyewitness to Jesus: translating it into Greek. Magdalen College, Oxford University Amazing New Manuscript Evidence Thiede’s and D’Ancona’s captivat- about the Origin of the Gospels by ing book convincingly argues for a very Thiede and D’Ancona (Doubleday, early date for Matthew. Eyewitness to April 1996). It describes the world- Jesus details the discovery, study, and codex (book style manuscript rather wide sensation created by the most significance of what is now called the than a scroll). It was erroneously momentous discovery for Biblical Magdalen Papyrus. These 3 small frag- believed at that time (1901) that research since the Dead Sea Scrolls ments of Matthew were purchased in codices did not come into use until at were unearthed in 1947. Thiede’s dis- 1901 in the Egyptian antiquities mar- least the 3rd and more likely the 4th covery and conclusions provoked vehe- ket in Luxor by Charles Huelatt century A.D. Thereafter the fragments ment criticism and visceral anger from (1863-1908) and donated to his alma lay in obscurity in a library display case many academics. Some scholars were mater, Magdalen College of Oxford where they were mostly ignored for nearly a century, In 1953 the Magdalen Papyrus fragments were briefly analyzed and re-dated to the late 2nd century by British papyrologist Colin Roberts. He based his conclusion on comparison with other papyri collections. This conclusion was at best relative, since before these terminal dates. Using these other collections were themselves these mid-first century papyri and not definitively dated. ostraca, Thiede demonstrated that Would you like to make liberal the book of Matthew must have been critics of the New Testament wake up written within the lifetimes of the at night in a cold sweat? This is what very people who witnessed the events Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede did in 1994 it contains. when he spotted the Magdalen frag- The Magdalen Papyrus, which ments while on vacation and dived into Thiede dates about 60 A.D., is the a thorough investigation. His study led first hard evidence of an early date him to re-date the Magdalen Papyrus for Matthew. Obviously Matthew’s to around 60 A.D. own original must have been penned even earlier, probably at least by 50 FORENSIC EVIDENCE A.D. What was the key to re-dating the The Magdalen Papyrus stands fragments? Dr. Thiede identified them firmly against the speculative literary as contemporary with 3 other datable theories of liberal critics which are collections: Greek papyrus fragments based primarily on false philosophi- from among the Qumran Dead Sea cal assumptions. Solid physical evi- Scrolls, Greek papyrus fragments from Herculaneum, and Greek ostraca (pot- SCIENCE continued on page 23 The Woodside News MARCH 2008 Section A 23 SCIENCE continued from page 22 dence, of course, should always Then I started negotiating. I asked trump philosophical conjecture. God if I could at least make it back Doesn’t this make your spine tin- home to say my goodbyes in person, or gle? Forensic evidence that Matthew take care of anything else he wanted was an eyewitness! me to do. Hint, hint – I’d really like to live a little longer. SIGNIFICANCE While I was bargaining, a sense of Application of Thiede’s newly-devel- peace fell over me and I started to oped paleographical comparative tech- regain control of my arm. niques has also influenced the dating I finally stood and put my water of other NT manuscripts. The John bottle in my right hand, but it fell out. Rylands papyrus fragment of John is I tried again and I this time I held on. usually dated to around 120 A.D. and I walked back along the unnatural near death is absolutely true. Redman blasting in my ear and large has long been cited as the earliest River Walk with a new appreciation for Last year I traveled to San trucks zipping by, when it happened. extant NT manuscript. Since the it and everything else in my life. I pon- Antonio for the first time – a city My right arm began doing its own analysis of the Magdalen Papyrus, the dered what this all meant, then and now. renowned for its River Walk, which thing. While the rest of me was run- Rylands Papyrus no longer holds that I wonder what I would have turns out to be a big fake. ning, my arm was conducting an “earliest” distinction. encountered down the road, had I kept Really. orchestra. In fact, numerous New Testament running. It took a moment to register. Was manuscripts are now being assigned I wonder about those trucks driv- discovered most of it is man-made. At I dreaming? Was this a heatstroke- more accurate earlier dates, including a ing so close to me and the extreme heat one point, they hired the same engi- induced hallucination? handful which have been re-dated to that was baking my skin. neers who designed Disneyland. They I stopped and watched my right the 1st century. Thiede says there is Mostly, I reflect on being driven to even drain the sucker every January. arm flounder before grabbing it with now good reason to believe that all the my knees and how I should live my life Nonetheless, I pretended it was a my left hand. Gospels, even John, were written well for however long, or short, it may be. natural wonder and decided go for a run. Nothing computed. before 70 A.D. It was a tad toasty that day, sunny My initial reactions ranged and 90 degrees. Coming from between panic and being really Michigan, this felt slightly cooler than grossed out. I mean, it’s just not right There is now the surface of the sun.
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