Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Is a Long-Dismissed Forgery Actually the Oldest Known Biblical Manuscript?
posted on March 10, 2021Jennifer Schuessler of The New York Times reports that Idan Dershowitz, an Israeli-American biblical scholar, claims to have authenticated 15 ancient manuscript fragments that were once dismissed as forgeries. These fragments, if real, would be precursors to the book of Deuteronomy. Schuessler writes, “Dershowitz’s research, closely guarded until now, has yet to get broad scrutiny. Scholars who previewed his findings at a closed-door seminar at Harvard in 2019 are divided, a taste of fierce debates likely to come.” She continues, “But if Dershowitz is correct, some experts say, it will be the most consequential Bible-related discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.”