The News You May Have Missed: July-August 2024

Portrait of the Savior as a Young Boy

A manuscript dating back more than 1,600 years has been identified as the earliest known account of Jesus’ childhood (New York Post, June 11). The papyrus manuscript, written in the fourth or fifth century, had been stored at a library in Hamburg, Germany, for decades and was long believed to be an insignificant document. However, two experts who decoded the text say it is the earliest surviving copy of the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas. “It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy,” explained Lajos Berkes, who helped decipher the document. It contains 13 lines of Greek letters and originates from late antique Egypt, a Christian society. The manuscript describes the beginning of the “vivification of the sparrows” — a story in which the child Jesus turns 12 clay sparrows into live birds. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is believed to have been first written in the second century; a codex from the 11th century was the oldest known Greek version of the text. The newly deciphered fragment predates that document by 600 years.

Swiftie Service

A historic Protestant church in Germany hosted a pair of worship services featuring the music of Taylor Swift in an effort to attract young people (My Christian Daily, May 16). The services, which took place at the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) in Heidelberg, drew 1,200 attendees. Constructed between 1398 and 1515 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles, the Heiliggeistkirche is the largest church in Heidelberg. The services included performances of some of Swift’s best-known (“Shake It Off”) and more religious-leaning (“Must Be Something More”) songs. Pastor Vincenzo Petracca, who DJs in his spare time, believes “the church still has good answers to the important questions of life. But they are often packaged in a way that younger generations do not understand. It is not their language.” Though Swift claims to be a Christian, critics say her latest album is full of minor quips that elevate her above God and features two songs devoted to tearing down the Christian sexual ethic.

Go Woke, Go Broke — Methodist Edition

The United Methodist Church lost more than one million members over a new rule allowing homosexual clergy (News Nation, June 7). Member congregations in the Ivory Coast, West Africa, announced their decision to leave the denomination after delegates repealed the longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy, voting 692-51 at the UMC’s General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, to remove a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. In response, the Ivory Coast congregations disaffiliated from the UMC “for reasons of conscience before God and His word, the supreme authority in matters of faith in life.” Additionally, the congregations accused the UMC of distancing itself from Scripture and “sacrificing its honorability and integrity to honor the LGBT.” The vote at the General Conference was “not based on any biblical and disciplinary values,” they said. As of 2022, there were 1.2 million United Methodists in the Ivory Coast, the largest group outside the United States, approximately one-tenth of the church’s total.