I recently came across this short video of Craig Evans interviewing Larry Hurtado. It appears to be made during the production of Evans' new documentary, Fragments of Truth (see Peter Gurry's review here). The date of P52 comes up, and Hurtado briefly explains why he thinks it is "among the earliest New Testament manuscripts" but not necessarily the earliest New Testament manuscript.
Hurtado's position isn't new or unusual, but I find it helpful to draw attention to another voice among those who reject specifically early or narrow dates for P52. He has gone on the record before about what he thinks of the date of P52 (on his blog here, or in various articles, some of which are in his recent collection of essays, Texts and Artefacts).
Hurtado's position isn't new or unusual, but I find it helpful to draw attention to another voice among those who reject specifically early or narrow dates for P52. He has gone on the record before about what he thinks of the date of P52 (on his blog here, or in various articles, some of which are in his recent collection of essays, Texts and Artefacts).