P46

Papyrus 46 (a Pauline codex — Romans through Hebrews)

Apostle Paul

Most of Paul, in one binding, from the second or third century. The Pastorals and Philemon are missing, and nobody can say whether they were ever there.

Catch rate: 53 / 255
Base research: 158
Stat total: 290

Base stats

Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.

Stamina84

Contend78

Defend72

Popularity56

Total290

Why these numbers

The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.

Stamina 84

Very high for a manuscript. Eighty-six of an original hundred and four leaves: not a fragment, but most of a book.

Contend 78

High. Romans, both Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians and Hebrews, in one binding. It can quote the creed, the letter and the sermon without reaching for anything else.

Defend 72

An enormous, careful, early witness — and its date is still argued, from as early as c. 125 to as late as c. 225. That open question is the only thing keeping its Defend off the top.

Popularity 56

Middling. Every textual critic knows this codex, but few other people have heard of it.

Cited for this book

Papyrus 46 is split today between Dublin and the University of Michigan. Scholars date it anywhere from about 125 to about 225. It is the earliest large copy of Paul’s letters we have, and it places Hebrews among them, which is the earliest evidence of how that book was grouped.

Moves learned

By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.

Lv	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr	Acc	PP
1	Delivered and Received	History	Argument	72	100%	10
1	Random Verse	Bible	Argument	10	100%	30
1	Chapter…	Bible	Scripture	—	—	12
32	Nothing Can Separate	Soteriology	Argument	76	100%	10
38	Spoken by His Son	Christology	Argument	74	100%	10

The quotes behind its moves

How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.

Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (WEB) — the passage 𝔓46 attests. The words are a creed Paul quotes rather than writes, which puts the resurrection claim earlier than any book that contains it.

Delivered and Received

HistoryArgument · power 72 · 100% accurate

In the gamePaul is not composing here. He is handing on something he was handed — a creed already old when he wrote it down.

“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38–39 (WEB) — the passage 𝔓46 attests.

Nothing Can Separate

SoteriologyArgument · power 76 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe list is long on purpose: Paul is trying to find something that could and running out. Strikes half again as hard when the book is nearly spent.

“God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.”
Hebrews 1:1–2 (WEB) — the passage 𝔓46 attests. 𝔓46 copies Hebrews straight in among Paul’s letters, which is the earliest physical evidence we have of how that book was filed.

Spoken by His Son

ChristologyArgument · power 74 · 100% accurate

In the gameEvery earlier word from God was true and partial. This one is a person.