The Rylands fragment - the earliest known New Testament document

This small papyrus fragment is the oldest known copy of any part of the New Testament.

The fragment, found in Egypt in 1920, is just 9 cm x 6 cm, and is written on both sides. It has been identified as part of John's Gospel - John chapter 18 verses 31-33 on the front, and verses 37-38 on the back. The whole page would have been about 21 cm high by 20 cm wide, and the entire Gospel would have taken about 130 pages.

Experts have dated this fragment to between AD 125 and AD 150. Scholars believe that John's Gospel was written late in the first century, perhaps around 90 AD. So this fragment may come from a copy as little as 35 years or so after the Gospel was first written. In the 19th century, skeptical German scholars argued that John's Gospel was written late in the second century. But Alan Millard, Rankin Professor of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages at the University of Liverpool, says:

(See 'Discoveries from Bible Times' page 325). The papyrus, called the 'Rylands fragment', technical name P52, is now in the John Rylands Library at Manchester UK. Next.