Christian Archaeology - Papyrus Egerton 2

Papyrus Egerton 2

The Egerton Gospel (British Library Egerton Papyrus 2) refers to a group of papyrus fragments of a codex of a previously unknown gospel, found in Egypt and sold to the British Museum in 1934; the physical fragments are now dated to the very end of the 2nd century AD, although the date of composition is less clear - perhaps 50-100 AD. It is one of the oldest known fragments of any gospel, or any codex. It is also called the Unknown Gospel, as no known ancient source makes reference to it, in addition to being entirely unknown before its publication.

Despite its apparent historical importance, the text is not well known. It is a mere fragment, and does not bear a clear relationship to any of the four canonical gospels. The sayings included in this "Unknown Gospel" are the type of traditional sayings are posited for the hypothetical Q Document. Ronald Cameron states: "Since Papyrus Egerton 2 displays no dependence upon the gospels of the New Testament, its earliest possible date of composition would be sometime in the middle of the first century, when the sayings and stories which underlie the New Testament first began to be produced in written form. The latest possible date would be early in the second century, shortly before the copy of the extant papyrus fragment was made. Because this papyrus presents traditions in a less developed form than John does, it was probably composed in the second half of the first century, in Syria, shortly before the Gospel of John was written."