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Loading...In this thread on the discovery of ancient Christian texts, I have mentioned the serendipitous discovery of both the Nag Hammadi Library in Egypt and the Dead Sea Scrolls in what is now Israel. It might be useful for me to say something about both of these discoveries. In this post and the next I will talk about the Nag Hammadi Library. I have taken this discussion from my New Testament textbook.
But let me reproduce the discussion with a warning. Caveat lector! My friend Mark Goodacre, NT scholar at Duke and inveterate destroyer of New Testament scholarly myths, has called this account (which is the standard account found among NT scholars) into question. Mark is on the blog. Maybe he will be inspired to respond!
In any event, here is the tale of the discovery from my undergraduate textbook:
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It is an intriguing story, this chance discovery of a cache of ancient Christian documents in 1945, in a remote part of Upper Egypt, a story of serendipity, ineptitude, secrecy, ignorance, scholarly brilliance, murder, and blood revenge. Even now, after scholars have spent years trying to piece it all together, details of the find remain sketchy.
We do know that it occurred in December1945 — about a year and half before…
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Yes, let’s hope Mark Goodacre gives you a response to this version of the story. And maybe mentions Dr. Who, too.
Quite a story, especially the part about eating a heart.
Delightful story – though not so delightful, of course, for the people who were murdered along the way! If Dr. Goodacre has a different take on what happened, I hope he’ll share it with us.
And I also hope you’ll go on to summarize what types of things were in these particular documents. I’m sure I’ve read about them, but there have been so many interesting “finds” that it’s hard for non-scholars to keep them straight. At least, it is for me!
Dr. Ehrman
What I would appreciate, and I believe additional members of this blog also would appreciate, is if you could post apocryphal texts that are not entirety available online. Like The Acts of Timothy and The Acts of Titus.
moose
It’s a great idea — but I’m not sure how it would be possible without doing a translation of them!
Do a translation. Your translations are remarkable in their clarity, and I assume quite accurate, as well!
Oh, I see. I thought these texts already existed translated into English. Because in a comment on The Acts of Paul, which is online, it is referred to the Acts of Titus. Here it’s said: – “The situation is a little cleared by a sentence in the Greek Acts of Titus ascribed to Zenas (not earlier than the fifth century?): ‘They arrived at Antioch and found Barnabas the son of Panchares, Whom Paul raised up.'”
I do not want any extra translation work for you. Just cut and paste.
Thanks anyway
You’re right. My bad. Richard Pervo did a fairly recent translation of the text. It would be under copyright, though, so I wouldn’t be able to put it on the blog without permissions.
Happy to be back … thanks again … fascinating and what eventually happened to Mohammad Ali and his brothers?
They lived to old age and died!
And……go on, please. 🙂
It’s a great story. What parts are less believable than the others?
I’ll have Mark Goodacre post on that! (His view: virtually all of it is not credible.)
Does anyone know what happened to the skeleton?
Nope!
Fundamentalists believe the Bible was divinely inspired. How can they say the discovery of other texts is not also inspired? Maybe God is finally revealing the rest of the story! Speaking of Mark Goodacre – I see you debate people on the other extreme of the spectrum; do you ever debate scholars who are not so far removed from your views, on various issues? Or are debates usually arranged by people looking to create a good fight?
Yes, I simply debate whomever someone asks me to do debate, with just a couple of exceptions (i.e. there are a couple of people I’m unwilling to share a stage with)
There’s an article in the newest BAR magazine about the Gospel of Thomas and it mentions the Nag Hammadi find. The writer, Simon Gathercole, says the whole story behind the find is probably legendary. He references others like Mark Goodacre who says the jars have been said to be anywhere from 2 feet to 6 feet(!!) tall. And someone else who says it is virtually impossible that the texts could have been preserved where it’s claimed they were found because the area where the fertilizer is gathered is an area that gets flooded by the Nile every year so there’s no way the texts, whether they were papyrus or animal skin, could have been preserved in an environment like that for over 1000 years.
BTW, you had one typo here: “seal” where you meant “sell.” Just wondering, did the typo make it into the textbook?
Don’t know! I’m on the road and don’t have a copy with me. But I doubt if it survived the copy-editor.
It says “sell” in Lost Christianities which was published way before the most current edition of the textbook (same story is in Lost Christianities).
You state “I have mentioned the serendipitous discovery of both the Nag Hammadi Library in Egypt and the Dead Sea Scrolls in what is now Israel.” Actually, the location of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found is in what is now Palestine (the West Bank).