POxy 5575

Somehow I missed this one: Peter Gurry worked with an Oxyrhynchus sayings-collection in 2010, #5575; its volume is now published, as "LXXXVII". Candida Moss has a very good piece on it, posted end-of-August. The team-leader Daniel Wallace made his announcement 4 September; today, Brent Nongbri.

Moss makes clear that "Jesus said" does not appear in there - is Jesus named in the main body? (Also published are POxy#5576 and #5577. Jesus is formally the speaker in POxy#5576, and someone addresses Mary in #5577. But these are Valentinian.) The overall thrust of the POxy#5575 fragment-bundle parallels what Matthew, Luke, and Thomas share: about taking less care for worldly possessions. [THE TEXT 9/12! "Son of the Heavenly Father" is implied, but - we're all such sons.]

I gather that the editors hold this one to be a predecessor for Thomas = POxy#1. Which makes sense as Thomas is generally considered a Gnostic update of the Gospel tradition; relevant here, the 36>37 chain. The editors also say that POxy#5575 is not Q.

The history is a bit chequered, as Nongbri reports. One fragment was exposed in Nongbri's presence in a convention. It was then presented as an extract or maybe quote from Matthew - so, not really Front Page News. Also, Professor Obbink the thief and the Green family's Museum of the Bible were involved - in fact, Obbink might have stolen it for them. Luckily the British Museum has the paper-trail so we know it's not a froggery like a lot of the Greens' buy-bull.