Update on Possible First Century Mark Fragment

After a brief flurry of rumor and innuendo regarding the possible find of a number of early New Testament manuscripts (first hinted at by Dan Wallace), Tim Henderson has this update on his Earliest Christianity blog:

Most people know that Brill Publishing announced in 2012 that they would be handling the publication of the manuscripts acquired and studied by the Green Scholars Initiative. At that time, it was expected that the first volume would appear in early 2013. However, this has yet to take place. Many also are aware that the alleged first-century manuscript of Mark and other NT manuscripts from the 2nd and 3rd centuries are part of this same collection that will eventually be published in Brill’s series.

In correspondence with one of Brill’s editors, I was informed that they are currently planning to publish the first volume of the “Papyrus Series” by the end of this year, “hopefully” by the annual SBL meeting in November. It was not indicated to me which manuscripts would be appearing in this first volume, though the initial Brill announcement from 2012 indicated that the (then) planned initial volume would feature a 3rd-century BCE papyrus of a previously undocumented work of Aristotle.

So it appears that those of us waiting for the publication of the Mark fragment (and others) will be waiting quite a bit longer. Nothing appears to be imminent, unless they decide to release details in anticipation of publication.

In my estimation, any release of information about additional second- or third-century New Testament manuscripts will be an inestimable treasure, and worth the wait.

New High-Resolution Photographs of Ancient New Testament Manuscripts to be Available

Stunning, high-resolution images of the most ancient New Testament
manuscripts will soon be available for viewing on the Web.

Daniel Wallace and Larry Hurtado, among others, are reporting that Wallace’s Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) website will soon carry high, high-resolution images (up to 120 MB each) of the famous Chester Beatty papyri, which are among the oldest manuscripts of New Testament documents available.

(No word yet on the supposedly forthcoming first-century manuscript fragment from the Gospel of Mark).

These papyri are a real treasure – according to Michael Kruger (Canon Revisited), these and other manuscripts themselves are some of the earliest physical evidence of early Christianity that we have.

[They] hold tremendous potential in helping us understand the origins and development of the New Testament canon. For one, we have collections of New Testament books within a single manuscript that date to the second and third centuries, earlier than the time of many of our canonical “lists”. Moreover, many of the physical and visual features of these manuscripts—the codex form, scribal hand, and other inscriptional features—together provide a fresh window into the literary culture of early Christianity and how Christians would have viewed and used these texts (pg 234).

According to Wallace:

The New Testament papyri at the CBL (Chester Beatty Library) include the oldest manuscript of Paul’s letters (dated c. AD 200), the oldest manuscript of Mark’s Gospel and portions of the other Gospels and Acts (third century), and the oldest manuscript of Revelation (third century). One or two of the Old Testament papyri are as old as the second century AD.

Using state-of-the-art digital equipment, CSNTM photographed each manuscript against white and black backgrounds. The result was stunning. Each image is over 120 megabytes. The photographs reveal some text that has not been seen before.

If you’re a student of the New Testament, this is exciting stuff. This library of photography will provide new and exciting insights into the world of the ancient church.