View source for Magdalen papyrus

{{New Testament manuscript infobox
| form   = Papyrus
| number = '''64'''
| image  = Oxford, Magdalen College MS Gr 17 (Papyrus 64) recto Matthew 26, 7-8; 10; 14-15 copy.jpg
| isize  = 
| caption=Oxford fragments of Papyrus 64 recto, Matthew 26:7-8; 26:10, 26:14-15 
| name   = 
| sign   = 𝔓<sup>64</sup>
| text   = [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 26:23,31
| script = [[Greek language|Greek]]
| date   = Late 2nd/3rd century
| found  = [[Coptos]], [[Egypt]]
| now at = [[Barcelona]], [[Fundación Sant Lluc Evangelista]], Inv. Nr. 1;<br/>[[Oxford]], [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]], Gr. 18
| cite   = 
| size   = 
| type   = [[Alexandrian text-type]]
| cat    = I
| hand   = 
| note   = 
}}

The '''"Magdalen" papyrus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɔː|d|l|ᵻ|n}}, {{Respell|MAWD|lin}})<ref name=Names>{{cite web|work=First Names Dictionary on AskOxford.com|title=Magdalen (Name)|url=http://www.askoxford.com/firstnames/magdalen?view=uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607031814/http://www.askoxford.com/firstnames/magdalen?view=uk|archive-date=7 June 2011}}</ref> was purchased in [[Luxor]], Egypt in 1901 by Reverend [[Charles Bousfield Huleatt]] (1863–1908), who identified the Greek fragments as portions of the ''[[Gospel of Matthew]]'' (Chapter 26:23 and 31) and presented them to [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]], Oxford, where they are catalogued as ''P. Magdalen Greek 17'' ([[Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland|Gregory-Aland]] 𝔓<sup>64</sup>) from which they acquired their name. When the fragments were published by [[Colin Henderson Roberts]] in 1953, illustrated with a photograph, the hand was characterized as "an early predecessor of the so-called 'Biblical Uncial{{'"}} which began to emerge towards the end of the 2nd century. The uncial style is epitomised by the later biblical [[Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209|Codex Vaticanus]] and [[Codex Sinaiticus]]. Comparative [[Palaeography|paleographical analysis]] has remained the methodological key for dating the manuscript, but there is no consensus on the dating of the papyrus. Estimates have ranged from the 1st century to the 4th century AD.

The fragments are written on both sides, indicating they came from a [[codex]] rather than a scroll. More fragments, published in 1956 by Ramon Roca-Puig, cataloged as ''P. Barc. Inv. 1'' (Gregory-Aland 𝔓<sup>67</sup>), were determined by Roca-Puig and Roberts to come from the same codex as the Magdalen fragments, a view which has remained the scholarly consensus.

== Date ==
[[File:Oxford, Magdalen College MS Gr 17 (Papyrus 64) verso Matthew 26, 22-23; 31-33.jpg|left|thumb|Oxford fragments verso, Matthew 26:22-23; 26:31-33]]
[[File:Barcelona, Fundación Sant Lluc Evangelista Ms P.Monts.Roca inv. 1 (Papyrus 64) recto Matt 3, 9; 5, 20-22.jpg|thumb|Barcelona fragments recto, Matthew 3:9; 3:9; 5:20-22]]
𝔓<sup>64</sup> was originally given a 3rd-century date by Charles Huleatt, who donated the Manuscript to Magdalen College. Papyrologist A. S. Hunt then studied the manuscript and dated it to the early 4th century. After initially preferring a 3rd or possibly 4th century dating for the papyrus, Colin Roberts published the manuscript and gave it a dating of {{circa|200}}, which was confirmed by three other leading papyrologists: Harold Bell, [[T. C. Skeat]] and [[Eric Gardner Turner|E. G. Turner]].<ref>Colin Roberts, ''An Early Papyrus'' pp. 233–237; Nongbri, ''God's Library'' 265-267</ref>
In late 1994, [[Carsten Peter Thiede]] proposed redating the Magdalen papyrus to the middle of the 1st century (AD 37 to 70). This attracted considerable publicity, as journalists interpreted the claim optimistically. Thiede's official article appeared in ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' in 1995. A version edited for the layman was co-written with [[Matthew d'Ancona]] and presented as ''The Jesus Papyrus'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1996. (also published as: ''Eyewitness to Jesus'', 1996, New York: [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]). Thiede's redating of the papyrus was based on comparative analysis of the script with selected samples from Egypt and Palestine. He claimed to see similarities between the script of the Magdalen papyrus and that of dated documents from the 1st century CE, such as P.Oxy. II 246 (66 CE). Thiede's hypothesis has been viewed with scepticism by nearly all established papyrologists and biblical scholars.<ref>See Head, Peter M.  [http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Head/P64TB.htm "''The Date of the Magdalen Papyrus of Matthew (P. Magd. Gr. 17 = P64): A Response to C. P. Thiede''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125020845/http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Head/P64TB.htm |date=2010-11-25 }}, (1995) ''Tyndale Bulletin 46''. Retrieved on 25 October 2013</ref>
[[File:Barcelona, Fundación Sant Lluc Evangelista Ms P.Monts.Roca inv inv. 1 (Papyrus 64) verso Matt 3, 15; 5,25-28.jpg|left|thumb|Barcelona fragments verso, Matthew 3:15; 5:25-28]]


Philip Comfort and David Barret in their book ''Text of the Earliest NT Greek Manuscripts'' argue for a more general date of 150–175 for the manuscript, and also for [[Papyrus 4|𝔓<sup>4</sup>]] and 𝔓<sup>67</sup>, which they argue came from the same codex. 𝔓<sup>4</sup> was used as stuffing for the binding of “a codex of Philo, written in the later 3rd century and found in a jar which had been walled up in a house at Coptos [in 250].”<ref>Colin Roberts, ''Manuscript, Society, and Belief in Early Christian Egypt'' pp. 8</ref> If 𝔓<sup>4</sup> was part of this codex, then the codex may have been written roughly 100 years prior or earlier.<ref>Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett, ''The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 2001)'', pp. 50–53</ref> Comfort and Barret also show that this 𝔓<sup>4/64/67</sup> has affinities with a number of the late 2nd-century papyri.<ref>i.e. [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri|P. Oxy.]] 224, 661, 2334, 2404 2750, P. Ryl. 16, 547, and P. Vindob G 29784</ref>

Comfort and Barret "tend to claim an earlier date for many manuscripts included in their volume than might be allowed by other palaeographers."<ref>Robinson, Maurice A. [http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol06/CB2001rev.html '''Review''' "Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett, eds. ''The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts''"] (2001) ''TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism'' v. 8</ref> The [[Novum Testamentum Graece]], a standard reference for the Greek witnesses, lists [[Papyrus 4|𝔓<sup>4</sup>]] and 𝔓<sup>64/67</sup> together, giving them a date of c. 200.<ref>Nestle-Aland. ''Novum Testamentum Graece'' (1997). Barbara and [[Kurt Aland]], eds. NA27 Stuttgart: ''Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft''. pp. 684, 687</ref> Charlesworth has concluded 'that 𝔓<sup>64+67</sup> and 𝔓<sup>4</sup>, though written by the same scribe, are not from the same ... codex.'<ref>Charlesworth, "P64+67 and P4," 604</ref> The most recent and thorough palaeographic assessment of the papyrus concluded that "until further evidence is forthcoming perhaps a date from mid-II to mid-IV should be assigned to the codex."<ref>Barker, "The Dating of New Testament Papyri," 578</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of New Testament papyri]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* Barker, Don. "The Dating of New Testament Papyri." ''New Testament Studies'' 57 (2011), 571–582, {{doi|10.1017/S0028688511000129}}
* Charlesworth, S. D. "[[T. C. Skeat]], P64+67 and P4, and the Problem of Fibre Orientation in Codicological Reconstruction," ''New Testament Studies'' 53, 582–604, {{doi|10.1017/S002868850700029X}}
* Nongbri, Brent. ''God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
* Skeat, T. C. "The Oldest Manuscript Of The Four Gospels?" ''New Testament Studies'' 43 (1997), 1–34, {{doi|10.1017/S0028688500022475}}
* {{cite journal|last=Thiede|first=Carsten Peter|year=1995|title=Papyrus Magdalen Greek 17 (Gregory–Aland P<sup>64</sup>). A Reappraisal|journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik|volume=105|pages=13–20|url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1995/105pdf/105013.pdf|access-date=2006-12-13}}

== Images ==
* {{Cite web | url = http://ntvmr.uni-muenster.de/liste/?ObjID=10064 | title = Liste Handschriften | publisher = Institute for New Testament Textual Research | access-date = 26 August 2011 | location = Münster}}
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/libraries-and-archives/illuminating-magdalen/news/magdalen-papyrus/|title= The Magdalen Papryus: possibly the earliest known fragments of the New Testament|publisher=Magdalen College|access-date=27 July 2015|location=Oxford}}

== External links ==
* Peter M. Head, [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125020845/http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Head/P64TB.htm "The date of the Magdalen Papyrus of Matthew: A Response to C. P. Thiede"]: published in ''[[Tyndale Bulletin]]'' 46 (1995) pp.&nbsp;251–285; the article suggests that he has both overestimated the amount of stylistic similarity between P64 and several Palestinian Greek manuscripts and underestimated the strength of the scholarly consensus of a date around AD 200.
* [http://nttranscripts.uni-muenster.de/AnaServer?NTtranscripts+0+start.anv University of Münster, New Testament Transcripts Prototype. Select P64/67 from 'manuscript descriptions' box]
* T. C. Skeat, ''The Oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels?'', in: T. C. Skeat and J. K. Elliott, [https://books.google.com/books?id=td_OLXo4RvkC&pg=3#PPA158,M1 ''The Collected Biblical Writings of T. C. Skeat''], Brill 2004, pp.&nbsp;158–179.
* {{Cite web|url=http://intf.uni-muenster.de/vmr/NTVMR/ListeHandschriften.php?ObjID=10064|title= Liste Handschriften|publisher=Institute for New Testament Textual Research|access-date=26 August 2011|location=Münster}}
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/libraries-and-archives/treasure-of-the-month/news/magdalen-papyrus/|title= The Magdalen Papryus: possibly the earliest known fragments of the New Testament|publisher=Magdalen College|access-date=10 November 2014|location=Oxford}}

{{New Testament papyri}}
{{Gospel of Matthew}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papyrus 0064}}
[[Category:New Testament papyri]]
[[Category:2nd-century biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:Greek-language papyri]]
[[Category:Early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament]]
[[Category:Gospel of Matthew papyri]]