No fair using facts here. Don’t point out Egypt was also into paganism either. OR the thought that Mary was never never referred to as “Mother of God” and that the Disciples would have dismissed that as blasphemy. Just don’t do it or you will be labeled a troublemaker.
Good advice. I typically steer as clear of these threads as possible. There’s just no upside to getting involved unless you fully agree, as a rule.
In this case my curiosity trumped pragmatism. I’ve studied Greek, and while not a scholar, I did wondter how the papyrus was (purportedly) dated with such exactness.
Ten minutes’ research revealed that the leading papyrus scholars by no means agree on the age of this specimen. The usual dating method is to examine the style of the lettering, and use that to date the sample to within ~100 years.
In this case, the lettering is unique, so that method goes out the window. The most learned scholars then apply a variety of methods for a looser estimation of the date. This article chose the earliest possible of those estimates, and presented it as fact. Actually, it’s but the earliest date in a three-century range.
Fwiw.
"When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"
As for Egypt being "into paganism", Egypt was the center of one of the largest Jewish communities outside Israel, and Mark founded the church of Alexandria there.
It clearly uses a form of theotokos. See it yourself on the picture of the fragment. Looks like theoto...then probably a K.
Theotokos does mean literally “God bearer...”
It’s good Trinitarian theology if you think about it for a bit.
Mary was bearing the incarnate, second person of the Trinity. Otherwise, Jesus was not God. And we know He was. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”