The Gospel of Jesus's Wife
"This fragment suggests that some early Christians had a tradition that Jesus was married. There was, we already know, a controversy in the second century over whether Jesus was married, caught up with a debate about whether Christians should marry and have sex."
Professor Karen King, historian of early Christianity, Harvard Divinity School
Professor King sought the professional advice of her expert peers in authenticating the business-card-sized piece of papyrus on which was written small Coptic Christian letters: Sahidic Coptic, a dialect from southern Egypt. The faded ink on the papyrus fibres, traces on the bent fibres at the torn edges convinced these experts of the authenticity of the fragment.
"It would be impossible to forge", said Dr. Anne Marie Luijendijk, associate professor of religion, Princeton University. The third scholar who lent his professional expertise to Professor King's search to authenticate the scrap of papyrus was another papyrologist, Roger Bagnall, director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University.
They are all rather excited, having in their temporary possession, an original scrap of written papyrus dating to the fourth century, possibly copied from a second-century Greek text, translated into Coptic Egyptian. The owner is a collector of rare and ancient manuscripts who had wished to have his treasure formally authenticated by experts.
A few phrases in particular have caught their attention: "Mary is worthy of it", and references to "my wife". The questions remaining: whether Jesus, like most other men of his religion and time was married, and whether to Mary Magdalene, and whether he was suggesting that she might be recognized as one of his disciples.
None of which would represent welcome news to the Roman Catholic Church which stoutly continues to insist that the investiture of women as priests is not possible, given authentic Christian history, and nor is anything but strict celibacy acceptable for priests, given Christ's celibate status.
Professor King has cautioned about the interpretation of the message in the ancient script, written centuries after Christ lived, given that all extant historically reliable Christian literature make no mention of these issues.
Labels: Christianity, Heritage, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, September 20, 2012
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