Carsten Peter Thiede
OCF KStJ
The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...
(8 August 1952 – 14 December 2004) was a German archaeologist and
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
scholar. He was also a member of
PEN
A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...
and appointed a Knight of Justice of the
Order of St John. He taught as Professor of New Testament Times and History at the Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule (STH) in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
and at the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...
in
Beersheba
Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. He often advanced theories that conflicted with the consensus of academic and theological scholarship.
Born in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
, Thiede studied
Comparative Literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...
and
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
there before procuring a German National Scholarship Foundation Research Fellow position at
Queen's College at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1976, where he attained a
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
for
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
, which he had played in the
German Volleyball Premier League.
![7Q5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/7Q5.jpg)
In 1978, he became a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature at
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, where he drew inspiration from his fellow "comparativist",
George Steiner
Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...
. Drawn to the subject of
early Christianity
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...
because of his background as a
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and his expertise in
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
, the study of the origins of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
came to form his life's work.
For a number of years into the early '90s Thiede worked with various broadcasting companies, including
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
and
ERF, and as an editor at the
Brockhaus publishing company. Thiede was best known for his interpretation of some of the Greek
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
fragments, including the identification of the small
7Q5 papyrus fragment (''illustration'') as a fragment of the ''
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...
''. He supported
O’Callaghan’s controversial claims that several papyrus fragments from
Qumran
Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...
Cave 7 are actually Christian New Testament texts from pre AD 70.
In December 1994, Thiede redated the
Magdalen papyrus
The "Magdalen" papyrus was purchased in Luxor, Egypt in 1901 by Reverend Charles Bousfield Huleatt (1863–1908), who identified the Greek fragments as portions of the ''Gospel of Matthew'' (Chapter 26:23 and 31) and presented them to Magdalen Col ...
together with former deputy editor of
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
and current editor of
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
,
Matthew d'Ancona
Matthew Robert Ralph d'Ancona (born 27 January 1968) is an English journalist. A former deputy editor of ''The Sunday Telegraph'', he was appointed editor of ''The Spectator'' in February 2006, a post he retained until August 2009.
Early life ...
, which bears a fragment in Greek of the ''
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
,'' to the latter part of the 1st century on
palaeographical grounds; this too provoked much debate and was highly publicised, most notably with a front-page headline in
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
. By attempting to make his material more accessible to the general public he was often accused of being a
popular science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
writer.
Carsten Thiede initially wrote an article in the academically peer reviewed Zeutschrift fr Papyrologue in regards to his dating of the papyrus to the last third of the first century. He improved upon his research and published the results in his book titled “Eyewitness to Jesus” in 1996. Thiede was able to date the Magdalen papyrus containing a portion of Matthews Gospel to 66 CE using more advanced papyrological techniques and comparative analysis with a document dated to 66CE (P. Oxy 246 II)
In ''The Quest for the True Cross'', also co-written with
d'Ancona, Thiede argued that the
Titulus Crucis
The Titulus Crucis (Latin for "Title of the Cross") is a piece of wood kept in the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome which is claimed to be the (title panel) of the True Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. It is venerated by s ...
could in fact be part of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
' cross, based on his palaeographic study of the writing, though it is considered to be a medieval forgery by many scholars.
[Byrne, Ryan; McNary-Zak, Bernadette ''Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The James Ossuary Controversy and the Quest for Religious Relics'' The University of North Carolina Press (15 Aug 2009) p.8]
/ref> Thiede is particularly noted for his research into early Christianity
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...
, notably Saint Peter, Peter and Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
.
For the last seven years of his life, Thiede also worked for the Israel Antiquities Authority
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...
repairing damage to the Dead Sea Scrolls and excavating the biblical location of Emmaus
Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, ''Emmaous''; la, Emmaus; , ''Emmaom''; ar, عمواس, ''ʻImwas'') is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before tw ...
. A devout Anglican who was ordained priest in 2000, he was also Chaplain to Her Majesty's Forces in spite of being a German citizen. He died in Paderborn
Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...
suddenly at the age of 52 from a heart attack.
English bibliography
* ''Simon Peter: From Galilee to Rome'' (1988)
* ''The Heritage of the First Christians'' (1994)
* ''The Jesus Papyrus'' (1994) (also published as ''Eyewitness to Jesus'' (1996) )(Co-author Matthew D'Ancona)
* ''Rekindling the Word: In Search of Gospel Truth'' (1996)
* ''Jesus: Life or Legend'' (2001)
* ''The Dead Sea Scrolls'' (2001)
* ''The Quest for the True Cross'' (2002)
* ''The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity'' (2003)
* ''The Cosmopolitan World of Jesus: New Light from Archaeology'' (2004)
* ''Emmaus Mystery: Discovering Evidence of the Risen Christ'' (2005)
* ''Jesus: Man or Myth?'' (2006)
References
External links
Short biography in the Telegraph
originally published in the Journal of Higher Criticism
The ''Journal of Higher Criticism'' is an academic journal covering issues "dealing with historical, literary, and history-of-religion issues from the perspective of higher criticism", published by the ''Institute for Higher Critical Studies''. The ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiede, Carsten Peter
Archaeologists from Berlin
Academic staff of the University of Geneva
Knights of the Order of St John
Writers from Berlin
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
1952 births
2004 deaths
German male non-fiction writers
20th-century German historians
German papyrologists