Scholars today set the world of Christianity into turmoil when they announced the discovery of a manuscript quoting the biblical book of Hebrews that dates from the late 19th century, pushing back the accepted date of authorship to the early 17th century.
The find came a few months ago when developers unearthed some heavily weathering concrete structures during the initial stages of a building project. A routine archaeological excavation turned into something rather more special when the building proved to be an ancient library containing hundreds of well preserved texts in ancient English. The manuscript, an explanation of the book on Hebrews, was one of the first papers to be translated and it was announced today that the find could be authenticated to the late 19th century.
Phil Smith, site manager at the archaeological dig; "while the structure is from some point in the 20th century, the book is a hundred years or so older than it." What makes the find so controversial is that until last week most ancient Christian scholars believed the book to be no older than the 19th century due it's apparent Romantic style of thought. Speaking from campus Professor Bob Jones, chair of the department of religious studies; "while it was so surprising to get concrete evidence, many of us have been convinced it could have been an early Enlightenment school of theology who first introduced it to the canon of scripture for some time now." He added: "This just goes to show that the discipline of Christian scholarship is still a vital area of research."
When asked about whether this gave credence to the belief that the book was written within living memory of Jesus' life Professor Jones responded "the notion that the book of Hebrews could have been written any earlier than the 16th century is ludicrous . Anyone who believes that the book could have survived before the invention of the printing press in 1564 is only deluding themselves. "
20kad, London, Earth.
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Answers to questions that you 'fell'. Are you knocking them down? Is this a game of skittles?... Yes, I know, the twitter entry should be feel... nice post here btw.