You may have seen the sensationalized reports last week of the discovery of lead codices in Jordan that seemed to contain early Christian writings, perhaps the earliest ever discovered. There’s already a fairly complete wikipedia article that details the press coverage, the back story and some of the significant questions regarding their authenticity.
Peter Thoneman, who teaches Ancient History at Wadham College, Oxford, was shown photos of one of them several years ago and concluded it was a forgery, making use of a tomb inscription published decades ago. Here’s his article: The messiah codex decoded.
There’s much more complete coverage of the issues at Tom Verenna’s blog.
Short version? We’re coming up toward Easter; it’s time to round up another story about early Christian origins. Remember the Gospel of Judas?
Preaching Grace on the Square 