Oh, By the Way!
"We have as many as eighteen second-century manuscripts (six of which were
recently discovered and not yet catalogued) and a first-century manuscript
of Mark’s Gospel! Altogether, more than 43% of the 8,000 or so verses in the
NT are found in these papyri. Bart [Ehrman, a scholar whom Dr. Wallace has
debated] had explicitly said that our earliest copy of Mark was from c. 200 CE,
but this is now incorrect. It’s from the first century. I mentioned these new
manuscript finds and told the audience that a book will be published by E. J. Brill
in about a year that gives all the data. (In the Q & A, Bart questioned the
validity of the first-century Mark fragment. I noted that a world-class
paleographer, a man who had no religious affiliation and thus was not biased
toward an early date, was my source.)
recently discovered and not yet catalogued) and a first-century manuscript
of Mark’s Gospel! Altogether, more than 43% of the 8,000 or so verses in the
NT are found in these papyri. Bart [Ehrman, a scholar whom Dr. Wallace has
debated] had explicitly said that our earliest copy of Mark was from c. 200 CE,
but this is now incorrect. It’s from the first century. I mentioned these new
manuscript finds and told the audience that a book will be published by E. J. Brill
in about a year that gives all the data. (In the Q & A, Bart questioned the
validity of the first-century Mark fragment. I noted that a world-class
paleographer, a man who had no religious affiliation and thus was not biased
toward an early date, was my source.)
--Daniel B. Wallace, Reclaimingthemind.org
Update: You can read more here.