Newly deciphered manuscript is oldest written record of Jesus’ childhood: ‘Extraordinary’

A newly deciphered manuscript dating back more than 1,600 years has been identified as the earliest known account of Jesus Christ’s childhood.

The manuscript, written on papyrus in either the 4th or 5th century, had been stored at a library in Hamburg, Germany, for decades and was long believed to be an insignificant document.

However, two experts have now decoded the text and say it is the earliest surviving copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

“The papyrus fragment is of extraordinary interest for research,” Lajos Berkes, a theology lecturer and one of the two men who deciphered the document, declared in a press release.

“It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy,” the expert explained. “We first noticed the word Jesus in the text. Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realized that it could not be an everyday document.”

#jesus #germany #manuscript

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[wvhoipolloi]

This isn't new. It's early Christian fan-fiction out of Egypt. It's an Apochryphal account that was written hundreds of years after Christ by well-meaning early Christians, but everyone knew it wasn't an authentic account of the childhood of Jesus.

[chrisazure]

It isn't a record of Jesus's childhood. It only claims to be. It was a late pseudepigraphal writing.

[BernardoMartins_]

The most extraordinary thing about this video is to learn that ‘early christian writers’ doubted the accuracy of anything…

[torreyintahoe]

Written 400 years after the time of Christ by someone who never knew him.

[mikeedman]

It is not in the Bible because the writer was hundreds of years later in time and not a companion of Christ nor a companion of one of Christs companion — This tale is probably folklore as neither the author or the writing were contemporary to Christ’s life or the a Apostles’ lives

[gunstar]

4th and 5th century fables (usually Gnostic) have nothing to do with the 1st century New Testament.

[jeffp]

Research this; this isn’t new. The Catholic Church was aware of this for hundreds of years and they claimed it wasn’t canon. Also, the Bible itself is the earliest account of Jesus as a child, written in 50-90 AD vs. 160 AD of this manuscript.

[DerylStryl]

A shopping list? Really.

“My Dearest ebekineezer, , what snacks do you want mommy to get for you when I make a run to the Walmart”

“Cheezits and goldfish”

[SabbatarianCalvinist]

Stuff written centuries after Christ is laughable.

[cosaosa]

This was God's last prophet. Anyone that came after him that claimed to bring the new prophecy was just a snake oil salesman. Yes, I'm talking about "Mo".

[psyche]

Wow.. a piece of ancient paper.. **doubt intensifies** Could have been written by anyone. An ancient old person most likely. Bored people and authors fabricate things a lot. Namely books. There are a lot of fictional ones. Also a historical fact.

[TheOtherDerek]

Fun fact: I wrote this hoping people would fall for it. As George Bush said... Mission Accomplished.

[defendandprotect-omhv]

So a story of Jesus childhood 400 years after he was born?

[Myrslokstok]

It is a bit strange how little we know about his childhood!

[nobatteriesincluded]

That was Caesar Borgia in that painting 😬

[manikhispanik]

This is why the gospel of St. Thomas was not canonized because of stories like these also part of why many gospels and writings were not included in the New Testament. in true Christian faith the New Testament is a testament to our faith, unlike modern denominations where their faith is a testament to the Bible in true Christian faith the Bible is a testament of the faith, And many writings books and gospels were not canonize as official testament of Christian faith because stories contradicted the faith and historical facts that supported stories to our faith such as this one Joseph would’ve never rebuked Jesus because Saint Joseph knew his role as protector to Mary and Jesus, the marriage between Saint Joseph and Mary Differ from what modern marriage is considered and the story although a beautiful miracle of Jesus could not in fact be a factual story because Christian faith knows better than Joseph to have ever rebuked his faith and he knew who and what Jesus was.

[shahidanfurqan]

Still unwilling to take the Arabic Quran as the "Standard" (Furqan)??

[ChiChisWorld]

How did they go from a shopping list to Jesus? 😅

[nessnake]

And this comes right after all the problems Israel is having with their image, people taking sides with Palestina. They need to revive adepts.

[prestonmccoy]

Uh, I believe in Jesus, but even I don’t know what to make of this. It certainly is interesting though.