The Gospels That Didn’t Make the Cut
St Timothy’s Episcopal ChurchStudy Brunch
Egyptian Discoveries
Google Map of Egypt and Environs
Location of Major Discoveries(in French)
Discoveries at Oxyrhyncus
• Major regional city from 4th century B.C.E. to 7th century C.E.
• Citizens dumped garbage in the desert west of town
• British excavation began 1896 and continues to today
• Huge find of texts (classical literary texts, Christian texts, everyday letters and transactions)
Location of Major Discoveries(in French)
Discoveries at Nag Hammadi
• 1945: Farmer Mohammed Ali Samman looking for earth for fertilizer
• Unearths jar with 12 bound codices• Codices contain “Gnostic” Christian texts
written in Coptic• From nearby monastery when such texts
were suppressed in 4th century
Characterization of Nag Hammadi Texts
• The universe was not created by the highest God
• Intense speculation about the true nature of divinity and the supracosmic realms
• Focused on – The soul's eventual break out from the created
order and – Patterns of spirituality contributing to this
• Saw nothing un-Christian in these views
Nag Hammadi Surrounding Terrain
Nag Hammadi Discovery Cave
Nag Hammadi Codices
Nag Hammadi Codex II
The Gospel of Mary from Oxyrhyncus
Chester Beatty Papyrus1 Corinthians 11:33-12:9
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