New article by Peter Rodgers in Filologia Neotestamentaria,  XXXVIII, 2025

.P75 and P4 Reconsidered

PETER R. RODGERS

In recent years the dating of some early Christian papyri has been chal-

lenged. Brent Nongbri especially has questioned the value of paleographic

dating, noting that several papyri, chiefly P75, could be placed as confidently

in the fourth century as in the second/third. This essay seeks a new criterion

for assessing the dates of early Christian manuscripts: Nomina Sacra. The

abbreviation/suspension of sacred names began with only the four or five,

and gradually expanded to include other words treated in this way. Those

papyri with fewer Nomina Sacra should be dated early, whereas those that

include an expanded list should be deemed to be later. The staurogram is

also important in this calculation. On this reckoning, P4 may be placed in

the second century, P75 in the third.

Keywords: Papyri, dating, paleography, Nongbri, Nomina Sacra, Staurogram.

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