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From a dump in Egypt to a criminal case in Oxford to a seminary in Texas, this fragmentary record of faith traveled a strange path.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyFor all of Christianity’s influence today, the archeological evidence for the first two centuries of the religion’s existence is notoriously thin. This is why the publication of a previously unknown second-century fragment of early Christian writing this week is so significant. Written before the formation of a New Testament or even the widespread recognition of a collection of Christian sacred scripture, this fragmentary page from a

Papyrologists date the fragment to the second century CE, making it one of the earliest examples of Christian writing, even before the formation of the New Testament.

An antiquities dealer contacted the museum with concerns in 2021, but the institution swiftly closed the case, according to documents seen by The New York Times.

In a lawsuit filed in New York, Hobby Lobby says Dirk Obbink, a 64-year-old professor of papyrology at Oxford, sold fragments of papyrus and ancient objects worth $7,095,100 in seven private sales between 2010 and 2013.