By Katrina RoeThursday 7 Apr 2011Hope MorningsGuests and ArtistsReading Time: 1 minute
Recent reports in the media have claimed that artefacts found in Jordan could be the earliest Christian writings in existence. The small, credit-card sized bound books are made of lead and were found in Jordan sometime in the last five years.
The ancient relics are shrouded in mystery; their text written in code which is yet to be deciphered. So what evidence is there that the books are Christian or that they date back to the 1st Century, as some scholars have suggested? Could this be a discovery as significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls? Or is it just an elaborate hoax?
Dr Chris Forbes, Senior Lecturer in ancient history at Macquarie University sheds some light on the discovery for us by raising some thoughtful questions about their significance, historicity and authenticity.
Listen Now – Katrina Roe talks with Dr Chris Forbes
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