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‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ revealed in Rome
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A Harvard scholar unveiled evidence Tuesday that will likely stoke the debate about a married Jesus Christ.
Professor Karen L. King presented a small scrap of papyrus at the International Congress of Coptic Studies in Rome that includes the phrase, “Jesus said to them, my wife.”
Dubbed the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, it also includes the line, “she will be able to be my disciple,” and references to Mary, who King said might be Mary Magdalene.
Christianity has long debated if Jesus married Mary, the first person reputed to have seen Jesus after his resurrection.
The papyrus is torn from a larger piece, meaning text from all sides is missing.
King, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, said that phrase has never before been seen in scripture.
“Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, even though no reliable historical evidence exists to support that claim,” King told the Harvard News Office.
She cautioned, however, that the 1 1/2- by 3-inch scrap of fibrous material isn’t definitive proof that Jesus was actually married. [More]
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Discovery the fragment of papyrus derives on fourth century contains Jesus’ words “my wife,” whom Jesus identifies as Mary Magdalene. Jesus does not have a wife and was not married. The Bible overrules very clearly that Jesus was not married: http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/marymagdalene.html
Dr KInk’s draft presentation is available online, at the Harvard Divinity School website. It’s well worth the read, even if you have no background in the Coptic languages.
This presentation is also illustrative of the very nature of biblical scholarship, in that even scholars don’t know everything and move forward only one step at a time. Meanwhile, it gives all believers an opportunity to exercise the divine gift of patience with one another, along with the humility it takes to ask simple questions. Thanks for sharing, Dr. King!
“She cautioned, however, that the…scrap of fibrous material isn’t definitive proof that Jesus was actually married.”
So if it conflicts with explicitly unverified but widely held belief, scraps of papyrus don’t mean anything. But when we’re talking about a collection of papyrus writings authored hundreds of years ago, rejected, included, and refined throughout the ages by multiple groups, with no external supporting evidence for it’s central and most compelling claims, it means everything and is the inerrant truth from god.
There seems to be a double standard at work here.
Hey Mr. Logic Bat, the papyrus did not say Jesus was married. “Jesus said to them, my wife” is not even a sentence. As the article notes, this was found on a scrap of papyrus without the surrounding text. How about this? “Jesus said to them, my wife is anyone who hears my words and does the will of the Father.” Blag, you and others are a joke — you think you are so logical, but what you actually are is biased and illogical. You’ll clutch at any straw that gives an interpretation different than centuries of teaching. Give me a break. If Jesus was married, we would know that from the gospels. For example, when He said He had no place to rest His head, don’t you think Scripture at that juncture would have said, “and if that isn’t bad enough, my wife doesn’t have any place to rest her head either, and that makes her — and thus me — not a very happy camper.”
If you actually read what I wrote, the only time I mention Jesus being married is when I quote the person in the article. I do not give my interpretation of the Bible, so I don’t know to what you were referring to when you accused me of “clutch[ing] at any straw that gives an interpretation different than centuries of teaching”.
From the rest of your post, it appears that you did not understand my post, good sir. Please go back and reread it.
Well, I guess you’re right then, blag — in re-reading your post, I have no idea what you are trying to say. How about if you make a better effort to communicate more clearly? As I say, even in re-reading your post, I don’t know what you’re saying — and I do an awful lot of reading, blag, so I’m not inexperienced with this skill.
Ho hum … yet another shred of an ancient text, by an unknown author, devoid of any context whatsoever, undated (and probably undatable), and still modern scholars and their followers have a field day of pretentious speculation as to the “true meaning” of said text. The statement in the article that “Christianity has long debated whether Jesus married Mary” is simply not true. Christianity has not long debated this, MODERN SCHOLARS have. There is a big difference. It always astounds me how arrogant modern scholars can be when they discount the entire Tradition of the Church and all that it entails in favour of their own limited understanding of what happened thousands of years ago.
Is it possible that other parts of the papyrus explain why John was the “beloved” disciple?
I would welcome this if found to be true. I would also welcome findings that Mary and Joseph led a married life and had other children. Being chaste might not mean the same as being celibate and has more to do with Rome’s hangup on sex.