Eyewitness to Jesus

Christmas Eve 1994 would have come and gone like any other, had it not beenfor three tiny papyrus fragments discussed in "The Times" of London'ssensational front-page story. The avalanche of letters to the editor jarred theworld into realizing that Matthew d'Ancona's story was as big as the discoveryof the Dead Sea Scrolls. The flood of calls received by Dr. Carsten PeterThiede, the scholar behind the story, and the international controversy thatspread like wildfire, give us an inkling as to why the Magdalen Papyrus hasembroiled Christianity in a high-stakes tug-of-war over the Bible.

Thiede and d'Ancona boldly tell the story of two scholars a century apart whostumbled on the oldest known remains of the New Testament--hard evidenceconfirming that St. Matthew's Gospel is the account of an eyewitness to Jesus.It starts in 1901 when the Reverend Charles B. Huleatt acquires three pieces ofa manuscript on the murky antiquities market of Luxor, Egypt. He donates thepapyrus fragments to his alma mater, Magdalen College in Oxford, England, wherethey are kept in a butterfly display case, along with Oscar Wilde's ring. Fornearly a century, visitors hardly notice the Matthew fragments, initially datedto a.d.180-200; but after Dr. Thiede redates them to roughly a.d. 60, peopleflock to the library wanting to behold a first-century copy of the Gospel.

But what is all the fuss about? How can three ancient papyrus fragments be sosignificant? How did Thiede arrive at this radical early dating? And what doesit mean to the average Christian? Now we have authoritative answers to thesepivotal questions. Indeed, the Magdalen Papyrus corroborates the tradition thatSt. Matthew actually wrote the Gospelbearing his name, that he wrote it withina generation of Jesus' death, and that the Gospel stories about Jesus are true.Some will vehemently deny Thiede's claims, others will embrace them, but nobodycan ignore "Eyewitness to Jesus."

Carsten Peter Thiede is a leading authority on ancient manuscripts
(a papyrologist). In addition to lecturing widely, he directs the Institute forBasic Epistemological Research in Paderborn, Germany, where he lives. He is alife member of the Institute for Germanic Studies, University of London.

Matthew d'Ancona, Deputy Editor of "The Sunday Telegraph," broke the storyabout the Magdalen Papyrus in 1994 while he was Assistant Editor of "TheTimes" of London. He obtained a First in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1989 and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College in the same year.He and his wife, Katherine Bergen, live in London.

"The problem is, this upsets the whole theological establishment."
--Ulrich Victor, Humboldt University, Germany

"New Testament scholarship may be revolutionized by three old scraps of papyrusno bigger than postage stamps."