Great googly moogly. I had never heard of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri before, and now… GUH. Link passed on from countless folks on my LJ. And as Sam quoted:
In the past four days alone, Oxford’s classicists have used it [infrared technology] to make a series of astonishing discoveries, including writing by Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and other literary giants of the ancient world, lost for millennia. They even believe they are likely to find lost Christian gospels, the originals of which were written around the time of the earliest books of the New Testament. […] scientists using the new photographic technique, developed from satellite imaging, are bringing the original writing back into view. Academics have hailed it as a development which could lead to a 20 per cent increase in the number of great Greek and Roman works in existence.
“Great googly moogly” is the understatement of the year. And if they do find “lost Christian gospels,” I wonder how the Church will react. I wonder if it will be an issue with the election of a new Pope… tomorrow. Nevermind.
<Priscilla’s wishful-thinking dream world>
…And Jesus spake, “You know, when I was taking about equality and love for all, that includes women, people of color, those that follow other faiths, and those with different sexual orientation. What part of ‘love thy neighbor’ do you not understand?”
</Priscilla’s wishful-thinking dream world>