(Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg)

Researchers in Germany have decoded what they say is the oldest-
ever manuscript detailing Jesus Christ’s life as a child.

The papyrus manuscript dates back more than 1,600 years old to
the 4th or 5th century. The document had been stored at a library
in Hamburg, Germany, as no one believed the document was of
any significance.

"The fragment is of extraordinary interest for research," Lajos
Berkes, a professor and one of the researchers who decoded the document said in a press release. "On the one hand, because we
were able to date it to the 4th to 5th century, making it the earliest
known copy.

Lajos Berkes

  
ED DANAHUE
                                                

Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001)

The domestic terrorist who perpetrated the Oklahoma City bombing.

Clocking in at three hours and 32 minutes, William Wyler’s
Technicolor epic Ben-Hur was the behemoth entry at the
32nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, held on this day
in 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

Setting an Oscar record, the film sweeps 11 of the 12
categories in which it was nominated, including Best
Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Charlton Heston).

Wyler’s 1959 film was the latest dramatic adaptation of the
mega-bestselling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,
published in 1880 by Lew Wallace. Wallace, a former
general in the American Civil War, wrote his most
successful novel after experiencing a new awakening
of his Christian faith.

The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s controversial film about
the last 44 hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life, opened in theaters
across the U.S.on February 25, 2004. Not coincidentally, the day
was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Catholic season of Lent.

Star Jim Caviezel (left) and director Mel Gibson.