Posted on 03/30/2011 5:36:35 PM PDT by Islander7
British archaeologists are seeking to authenticate what could be a landmark discovery in the documentation of early Christianity: a trove of 70 lead codices that appear to date from the 1st century CE, which may include key clues to the last days of Jesus' life. As UK Daily Mail reporter Fiona Macrae writes, some researchers are suggesting this could be the most significant find in Christian archeology since the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947.
The codices turned up five years ago in a remote cave in eastern Jordan—a region where early Christian believers may have fled after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. The codices are made up of wirebound individual pages, each roughly the size of a credit card. They contain a number of images and textual allusions to the Messiah, as well as some possible references to the crucifixion and resurrection.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Quite—very Discovery/History channel. And Dan Brown’s next book subject, no doubt.
All true. I remember when the great Dead Sea Scrolls were rolled out—we kept hearing about how they were going to change the beliefs of Christians, repudiate the Old Testament, negate the whole of western civ. But I think they were just repeating the reviews (pardon me, “scholarly criticism”) of “The Passover Plot.”
The point is that the media always seem to roll out stories like these at Christmas and Easter.
Thanks for the ping!
exactly. These were found 5 yrs. ago but they’re announcing it now right before Easter?
EVERY Easter there is SOMETHING.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they are more gnostic writings about Mary Magdalene having a baby and Judas not being such a bad guy afterall.
Yep, that fella Cliff thought he had all the answers,
I had to correct him a number of times, as everyone
knows Cod Ices are a favorite summer treat in the
New England states, in fact I remember seeing our President
gobbling a Cod Ice on his third or forth vacation.
Never could get used to the taste myself.
Cod Akbar!
Maybe they are children’s books, for the kids to look at so they won’t make noise during the liturgy. Might test them for crayon residue but if they were coloring books, probably too much time has elapsed and none of the crayon residue has survived.
And which Bible are you speaking of?
” The Jordanian government has pledged to “exert all efforts at every level” to get the potentially priceless relics returned, Pigott reports.”
HMMMMMMM, So the head Jordaian Imam can determine their authenticity ?
I was too smart to be sucked in on the USPS pension fiasco so I invested all my money with a Barrister from Nigeria. I expect to reap a huge fortune soon but I am having a hard time keeping up with the monthly transfer fees he keeps asking for. It’s great though, I am really getting to be slim and trim since I don’t have money for food.
It looks like a picture book with captioning. A missionary would use that to illustrate the Scriptures that he would then recite from memory.
Trivia Time: Encaustic painting, which is done with the pigments suspended in hot beeswax (i.e. old fashioned crayon) is one of the most durable media out there. Here's one from about 100 years before Christ...
And some Freepers would accuse them of worshiping graven images ;-)
Memnonic statuary, carvings, architectural forms, drawings, paintings, mosaics ~ were, in their own time, valid forms of conveying information, or assisting the illiterate in receiving it (and using it themselves).
Visual technology is still valid for the use of conveying information ~ even religious information.
Now, a reconciliation of various schools of thought on the matter of the prohibition on "graven images". Some argue that the point in ancient times was to suppress worship of the gods of nature ~ so no more Zeus with lightning bolts. Even in the times of Greek hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East people continued to mix and match statuary with infanticide. Treatments for infertility were just as primitive and crude so a "graven image" might well be nothing more than a "device" and not a "god" at all ~ maybe a representation of a demigod?
With Islam they went so far as to suppress the drawing of plants. One might suppose desert people thought of jungles as godlike.
So, does the existence of a statue or picture inside a church imply the occupants worship the statue or picture?
I doubt it. After all, if that were the case Chinese could never become Christians ~ even their writing is based on pictures.
Some people fail to understand that printing the letters "G-O-D" is merely arranging a few million ink molecules on paper into a visual symbol to communicate a larger concept. They take great umbrage however, when a few million paint molecules are arranged on canvas for the same purpose :-)
Fascinating....
Drive 'em batty by calling it the "Christian Era."
They actually get red in the face. They thought they'd fixed that one, and darned if it doesn't actually catch on faster than "Common Era" which really gives no landmark in people's minds.
:>)
That's what I do. Great Minds, xzins (^8 }.
So instead of using Anno Domini,
they want to use “Christian Era”?
OK... Latin, English, it matters not.
Lead codpieces would protect the jubblies from radiation, but the lead might have its own problems.
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