What could this be?

[Nitsuj]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout...an-history

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

I don't know. If it has the implications that they say it does, then it would be a very noteworthy discovery. Particularly if it proves the existance of Jesus as a historical figure.

If I had to take a wild guess, however, I would guess that it may be one of the pre-bible storybooks that tell one of the stories that was originally folded into the bible cannon.

[Minimalist]

The rule of thumb, as pronounced by noted archaeologist Israel Finkelstein is that any artifact which shows up on the antiquities market rather than from a controlled excavation must be regarded as a fraud until proven otherwise.

Also..... the appearance of this right around Easter has my bullshit detector beeping like crazy. It is exactly the kind of shit that gets trotted out every year to make the faithful cum in their pants.

[Anomalocaris]

To Christians, It is as if somehow the discovery of a copy of the "The Adventures of Pinocchio" printed during the life time of Carlo Collodi lends credence to the notion that there existed a wooden puppets who talked, whose nose grew when he lied, and who was resurrected as a living boy.

[HeyItsZeus]

Great another thing to add to the pile of garbage(Christianity).

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Fascinating,but the authenticity is irrelevant. Many Christians will accept it if it confirms dogma.If not,it will be rejected out of hand, just was The Gospel of Thomas,an authentic discovery,part of the Nag Hammadi findings in 1945..

At this point it smells. I remember reading how some experts of the day (at the Eastman laboratories) were certain the photos of the Cottingley Fairies could not have been faked.(they were)

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The full Wiki article is worth reading.

The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. The Gospel of Thomas was found among a collection of fifty-two writings including gospels claiming to have been written by Jesus' disciple Philip and an excerpt from Plato's Republic. Scholars have speculated that the works were buried in response to a letter from the bishop Athanasius who for the first time declared a strict canon of Christian scripture.[1

The Gospel of Thomas is regarded by some scholars as one of the most important texts in understanding early Christianity outside the New Testament. It is one of the earliest accounts of the teaching of Jesus outside of the canonical gospels, according to a few scholars, and so is considered a valuable text.[64] It is further unique in that the gospel is no more than a collection of Jesus' sayings and parables, and contains no narrative account of his life, which is something that all four canonical gospels include.

No major Christian group accepts this gospel as canonical or authoritative. Nonetheless, it is an important work for scholars working on the Q document, which itself is thought to be a collection of sayings or teachings upon which Matthew and Luke are partly based. Although no copy of Q has ever been discovered, the fact that Thomas is similarly a 'sayings' Gospel is taken by some as indication that the early Christians did write collections of the sayings of Jesus, and thus they feel it renders the Q theory more credible.[65]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas

[tackattack]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout...an-history

[KichigaiNeko]

One thing 'christians' have got to get straight is that their religion is just a doomsday cult, drawn directly from judaism.

But, I agree that the artifact IS very interesting.

And when it has been fully examined it can be claimed by Jordan (for all the good it is going to do them)

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[ib.me.ub]

"it could here be designed to refer to the resurrection."

That was enough for me.

[KichigaiNeko]

Agreed

Still cool artifact. Probably end up as some roman's shopping list and inventory.