𝔓64 was originally given a 3rd-century date by Charles Huleatt, who donated the Manuscript to Magdalen College. Papyrologist A. S. Hunt then studied the manuscript and dated it to the early 4th century. After initially preferring a 3rd or possibly 4th century dating for the papyrus, Colin Roberts published the manuscript and gave it a dating of , which was confirmed by three other leading papyrologists: Harold Bell,
T. C. Skeat and
E. G. Turner. In late 1994,
Carsten Peter Thiede proposed redating the Magdalen papyrus to the middle of the 1st century (AD 37 to 70). This attracted considerable publicity, as journalists interpreted the claim optimistically. Thiede's official article appeared in
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik in 1995. A version edited for the layman was co-written with
Matthew d'Ancona and presented as
The Jesus Papyrus, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1996. (also published as:
Eyewitness to Jesus, 1996, New York:
Doubleday). Thiede's redating of the papyrus was based on comparative analysis of the script with selected samples from Egypt and Palestine. He claimed to see similarities between the script of the Magdalen papyrus and that of dated documents from the 1st century CE, such as P.Oxy. II 246 (66 CE). Thiede's hypothesis has been viewed with scepticism by nearly all established papyrologists and biblical scholars. Philip Comfort and David Barret in their book
Text of the Earliest NT Greek Manuscripts argue for a more general date of 150–175 for the manuscript, and also for
𝔓4 and 𝔓67, which they argue came from the same codex. 𝔓4 was used as stuffing for the binding of “a codex of Philo, written in the later 3rd century and found in a jar which had been walled up in a house at Coptos [in 250].” If 𝔓4 was part of this codex, then the codex may have been written roughly 100 years prior or earlier. Comfort and Barret also show that this 𝔓4/64/67 has affinities with a number of the late 2nd-century papyri. Comfort and Barret "tend to claim an earlier date for many manuscripts included in their volume than might be allowed by other palaeographers." The
Novum Testamentum Graece, a standard reference for the Greek witnesses, lists
𝔓4 and 𝔓64/67 together, giving them a date of c. 200. Charlesworth has concluded 'that 𝔓64+67 and 𝔓4, though written by the same scribe, are not from the same ... codex.' The most recent and thorough palaeographic assessment of the papyrus concluded that "until further evidence is forthcoming perhaps a date from mid-II to mid-IV should be assigned to the codex." == See also ==