Writings: ChristianityPapyrus 756 of 10

Writings: Christianity

Papyrus 75

Papyrus 75, also called Papyrus Bodmer XIV-XV, is a papyrus codex of the Gospels of Luke and John in Greek, now in the Vatican Library. Its first editors dated its handwriting to about 175 to 225 CE. Scholars disagree about whether it is that early, and the answer affects what the codex shows about Codex Vaticanus.

Last reviewed:

Three dates, kept apart

  1. The text's date: the tradition's view

    John: near the close of the first century CE, by the apostle John (Orthodox Church in America); the Catholic and evangelical statements used here give no year (this strip marks John only; Luke is dated in the text below)

  2. The text's date: critical scholars' view

    John: the 90s CE, by an author the text does not name (Dale Martin of Yale; the Catholic bishops' New American Bible) (this strip marks John only; Luke is dated in the text below)

  3. This copy made

    175 to 225 CE as long used (about 200 CE in common use); Tommy Wasserman suggests that, leaving handwriting aside, about 200 CE is the most probable date; Brent Nongbri argues for the 4th century CE; the bar shows the long-used range

  4. This copy found

    The find is not documented. The codex belongs to the Bodmer group, presumed to come from one discovery in Upper Egypt in the early 1950s. It was published in 1961, sold in 2006, and given to the Vatican Library.

All four rows share one timeline. A row with no marker says why in words. How ancient texts are dated.

What it is

Papyrus Bodmer XIV-XV, known as P75, is a Greek codex of the Gospels of Luke and John, written on papyrus (a paper-like sheet pressed from reeds). It holds Luke 3 to 24 and John 1 to 15.1 The editors calculated that it once had 144 pages, more than 100 of which survive.1 The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts counts 50 surviving leaves.2 It is a single-quire codex, a book made from one stack of folded sheets.3 The Vatican Library calls it Hanna Papyrus 1, Mater Verbi.14

How the copy was dated

The editors, Victor Martin and Rodolphe Kasser, published the codex in 1961 and dated its handwriting to 175 to 225 CE.15 The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts lists the codex as third century.2 The codex's text closely matches that of Codex Vaticanus, a fourth-century Greek Bible. Scholars have taken this match, with the early date, as a sign that the Vaticanus text was carefully handed down from the second or third century.1

Brent Nongbri argues that this date was set by handwriting alone. In his view, handwriting cannot reliably give so narrow a window, and good parallels exist in fourth-century manuscripts. He adds that the codex's format fits a fourth-century setting, and that the other Bodmer papyri apparently found with it are mostly from the fourth and fifth centuries. He grants that handwriting alone does not rule out the early third century.1

Tommy Wasserman answers in a 2023 chapter. He argues that the text's closeness to Vaticanus is not a reason to date the codex to the fourth century, because the scribes of Vaticanus had access to older copies. He words his own conclusion cautiously: leaving handwriting aside, the text and the way early manuscripts mark their sections perhaps favor a date around 200 CE as the most probable possibility.5

For the methods behind these dates, see how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The tradition's account

Irenaeus, an early church writer, teaches that Luke, Paul's companion, recorded Paul's Gospel in a book, and that John, a disciple of Jesus, afterward published a Gospel at Ephesus.6 The Orthodox Church in America's catechism holds that Luke wrote in the beginning of the second half of the first century and John near its close.7 Catholic teaching, in Dei Verbum, holds that the Gospels are of apostolic origin and gives no year.8

The Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message holds that the Bible was written by men divinely inspired.9 The evangelical Chicago Statement holds that source study must not reject a book's own account of who wrote it.10 Neither gives a year.

The historians' view

Dale Martin of Yale holds that Luke was written sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and doubts that its author was an eyewitness of the events told.11 He holds that modern scholars regard the Gospels as anonymous, that the beloved disciple in John is unidentified, and that John may have been written in the 90s CE.121314

The Catholic bishops' New American Bible, in an introduction that applies critical analysis, holds that John was probably written in the 90s CE. It adds that most modern scholars find the evidence does not support John, son of Zebedee, as its eyewitness.15

How it was found

No exact find-spot is recorded. Scholars place the Bodmer group, a set of papyrus and parchment books, in Upper Egypt, but the exact area and extent are unclear. James Robinson has argued for the cliffs of Jabal Abu Mana, while others point farther north to Panopolis.1

In 2006 Christie's sold it from the Bodmer collection in Geneva to the American Frank J. Hanna III on behalf of a consortium.1 Raffaele Farina, the Vatican Library's librarian, writes that it reached the library on November 22, 2006, and that Hanna presented it to Benedict XVI on January 22, 2007.16

What it shows, and what it does not

It shows that the Gospels of Luke and John were copied together in one papyrus book, and that its text closely matches Codex Vaticanus, a fourth-century Bible. On the long-used date, a Vaticanus-type text existed by the early third century or earlier; on Nongbri's date, the codex and Codex Vaticanus both come from the fourth century.1

It does not show how old that shared text is, since the codex's date is still debated, or which type of Greek text deserves most weight. An English Orthodox Bible's introduction reports that modern critical editions most often follow the text type of Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate's 1904 Greek text, adopted by Greek-speaking Orthodox churches, follows the Byzantine type.17

Sources

  1. Brent Nongbri. Reconsidering the Place of Papyrus Bodmer XIV-XV (P75) in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. Journal of Biblical Literature 135.2, Society of Biblical Literature, 2016, pp. 405 to 437. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  2. Manuscript P75. Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM), catalog record. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  3. Brent Nongbri. The Bodmer Papyri: An Inventory of "P.Bodmer" Items. Variant Readings (the author's blog), 2017, entries for P.Bodmer II and P.Bodmer XIV+XV. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  4. Pap.Hanna.1(Mater.Verbi). Digital Vatican Library (DigiVatLib), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, viewer page. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  5. Garrick V. Allen, Usama Ali Mohamed Gad, Kelsie Gayle Rodenbiker, Anthony Philip Royle, and Jill Unkel (editors). The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri at Ninety: Literature, Papyrology, Ethics. De Gruyter (Manuscripta Biblica 10), 2023, Sharp and Nongbri, pp. 37 to 38 and note 14; Unkel, pp. 51 to 65 and 68; Wasserman, pp. 143 to 144 and 151. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  6. Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 1. New Advent (from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, 1885), section 1. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  7. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, New Testament: Gospels. Orthodox Church in America, opening sections and the sections on Luke and John. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  8. Second Vatican Council. Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Holy See, 1965, sections 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, and 22. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  9. Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Southern Baptist Convention, 2000, Articles I and VII. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  10. International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, summary statement, Articles XII and XVIII. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  11. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 9: The Gospel of Luke. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  12. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  13. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 11: Johannine Christianity: the Gospel. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  14. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 12: Johannine Christianity: the Letters. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  15. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. New American Bible, Revised Edition: Introduction to the Gospel according to John. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, introduction. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  16. Raffaele Cardinal Farina. A Venerable Witness of the Gospels of Luke and John: Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV (P75). Vatican Apostolic Library, 2008, opening paragraph and closing pages. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  17. About the EOB New Testament. The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible (an English translation project), hosted at Azbyka.ru, sections on the Greek text and the text types. Accessed 2026-11-05.