A piece of papyrus that showed part of the Gospel of John, the New Testament appeared in January this year on eBay, the popular online auction site. Is the asking price? $ 99.
Geoffrey Smith, a researcher of early Christianity at the University of Texas, saw the auction and contacted the user who published it, asking him to lower the sale would be an important historical object and to give access to study. This Saturday, to 10 months of the event, Smith presented his findings at the conference of the Society of Biblical Literature in Atlanta, USA.
According to Smith described the New York Times, the papyrus contains six lines Greek Gospel of John (caítulo I, verses 50 and 51). . Is the size of a credit card, it has been stored in a plastic structure and according to Smith, dating from between 250 and 350 DC
The research also indicates that the fragment has a number of features: It has another text on the other side (written in the same hand that the biblical text) and have their origin in a papyrus scroll and not in a codex, the forerunner of the book and that was the way most used by early Christians to publish their texts. In fact, 97% of the texts from that era that survive to this day are codex.
What does this say? According to Larry Hurtado, an expert on manuscripts of early Christianity from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, it would be a text to personal study, and not for use in religious ceremonies.
The fragment, not registered in the official lists of documents of the New Testament, is part of a select group of Christian Greek papyri, of which there are only 130.
The question that arises is how the object came to eBay. The seller was not identified during the auction, which was eventually canceled, and Smith has not revealed his name, but the text accompanying the sale provides information on its origin.
“It’s part of the collection Harold R. Willoughby, who did research with Edgar Goodspeed. Mr. Willoughby was a traveler and renowned professor of theology at the University of Chicago. At the time of his death, had 3,500 Bibles ‘collection’. This box with the passage literally fell from a pile of letters. I’m sure he was kept there for security. Mr. Willoughby was a family and I can confirm that this information is true, “wrote the user who posted the auction.
A Month publication of the notice, it is not known what the fate of papyrus.
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