Jim West is rolling over in his Alexa rankings right now.
New Testament history expert Margaret Barker, of Borrowash, is examining photographs of the “metal books” found in a cave in Jordan.
She was contacted by British archaeologist David Elkington, one of the few people to have seen them.
It is thought the artefacts might be almost 2,000 years old.
Mrs Barker believes that if the books are genuine, they could be unique evidence of Christian activity as early as 33AD – about the time Jesus is thought to have been crucified.
The fact that the thin lead tablets are bound into books, and their combination of symbols and script, for her “tips the balance” in favour of them being of Christian derivation.
She will now try to help decipher the meaning of the Ancient Hebrew text, most of which is in code.
via BBC News – Derby expert examines ‘ancient Christian books’.
You know, though, on the off chance that these books are the genuine article, what will that do to the mythicists?
Related articles
- ‘Secret Writings’ About the Last Years of Jesus? (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
- Could this be the biggest find since the Dead Sea Scrolls? 70 metal books found in cave in Jordan could change our view of Biblical history (dailymail.co.uk)
- Lead Codices Silliness (rogueclassicism.com)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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i remain totally skeptical, totally unconvinced.
I am too, even with my dilettante knowledge of this time period.
oh and i’m still nearly 20,000 websites ahead! and that’s just ahead of you! i’m hundreds of thousands ahead of everyone else and millions ahead of most… i’m just sayin, not boastin…
I also remain skeptical. Yet if they are authentic, I don’t think they can be dated to the first century. The most damning piece of evidence for me is the cross on one of the plates that Philip saw. The cross was not a Christian symbol until c. 2nd century and not before, to the best of our evidence (which is, as it goes, pretty silent on the idea of ‘crosses’–Chi Ro, yes; fish? Yes. Crosses? No.). In conjunction with the “coded” script (I still believe this is a nice way of saying ‘spell book’) and the combination of paleoHebraic and (possible) Greek script, amongst what might be others, I think calling these codices “first century Christian” seems to be to be far too authoritative a claim. It is too early and with such a lack of caution, I continue to feel that these sorts of claims are dubious. Those scholars who remain hesitant and reserved about the findings, to me, are much more wise.
As far as mythicists go, that is a decent question. I am not sure if anything can be said about ‘Jesus’ historically, when it comes to these tablets. But if so, that would be a strong nail hammering down the coffin.
‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.
What if they found the golden plates of Mormon? (Technically, it’s the plates of Moroni?)
That would be bigger news.
If you want a comment then here is a truthful one.
I have know David Elkington, whose real name is Paul Elkington, but has also been known by many others too, for many years the fact being i am a family member. To put the record straight once and for all Paul is by no means a Scholar of Ancient Religious Archaeology or a Scholar of anything else. Neither is he a Professor, a Lord, (which he has used over the years for his own gain) or have large amounts of letters after his name. He is in fact a conman to which many people would willingly state. This man has emotionly hurt elderly and ill people and sucked them dry financially. I think the uk police would like some truthful answers to a few questions too. He has hurt his own family and disowned his own son who so much would a like a normal relationship with him, but that’s never going to happen because Paul Elkington is far from normal or compassionate, in my opinion he needs medical attention.
Thanks, Michelle. I did some checking on the connection. Of course you know you are right. Wow.
But, was Elkington the only one to have seen them? Or did someone find them, and he was on the time to verify them?