Firstly, the
canonical gospels were rigorously edited to support the traditional Roman
concept of patriarchy. Thus the leading
role of women was seriously obscured although it still shines through in the
words of Jesus who after all was a revolutionary in conflict with his own
society.
Secondly, it
was impossible in the time and place for Jesus to not be married. There is careful scholarship on this topic
out there and that conclusion becomes inescapable. I suspect that he returned to Judea because
of his obligation to marry as well as introducing and building up his
ministry. It is plausible that he
expected some support or at least acceptance from the religious regime in
Jerusalem.
Instead he
found himself in quick confrontation and clearly perceived as a direct threat
to that regime. Thus the ready
conspiracy to remove him.
We are all
raised under a Christian informed culture established over the past two
thousand years and simply cannot understand that our natural standards are
completely alien to the preceding culture.
We get a taste of it from the more primitive parts of the Islamic world
but even that is a radical change that accommodated barbarism but then used a
nonsense doctrine of dualism to parallel Christian teaching to obviate the
logic of it all.
The ancient
culture accepted slavery, accepted that fate made you a slave, and accepted
that the life of a slave belonged completely to the master to satisfy any and
all behavior defects. It was not just
economic exploitation but rationalized depravity also which supported a culture
of ongoing warfare and wealth creation through looting and most importantly the
capture of whole populations for the slave markets.
The Aztec
culture was comparable. Elsewhere
Buddhism also altered the barbarian trajectory of the roman word and its
excesses.
Harvard
journal says “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” is ancient, not a modern forgery
A new report claiming to support the
authenticity of a papyrus fragment that quotes Jesus as saying the surprising
words “my wife” set off new debate Thursday over what can be definitively known
about Jesus and how early Christians saw matters of gender and sex.
Two years ago, Harvard Divinity School
historian Karen King announced the discovery of the fragment. In the meantime,
experts on subjects ranging from ancient script to carbon ink to early
Christianity have discussed whether it could be a modern forgery and, if not,
what significance its words might have.
Ukraine, “Spider-Man 2” premiere, Civil
Rights Summit, Hillary Clinton dodges shoe, stiletto heel murder trial and
more.
On Thursday, the Harvard Theological Review’s April
edition included several
articles on the document’s composition, saying it probably dated from between the
sixth and ninth centuries and might be even older.
King said authenticating what she calls “The
Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” doesn’t prove that Jesus was married but sheds light on
early Christians’ discussions about whether “the ideal mode of Christian” life
was a celibate one, King wrote in the Review.
It’s not known who wrote the fragment, which
is in Coptic, but in it Jesus speaks of his mother, his wife and a female
disciple called “Mary,” King wrote. “The main point of the [fragment] is simply
to affirm that women who are wives and mothers can be Jesus’s disciples,” King
wrote.
Experts on ancient and contemporary
Christianity saw the conversational value in the fragment, even if they
disagreed on its historical import.
Hal Taussig — a New Testament professor who
worked with King on the fragment and has written about other ancient Christian
writings found in recent decades — said the words on the fragment are
“breathtaking” and support the idea that Mary Magdalene “was a major leader in
the early Jesus movement.”
Taussig said he believes the document is
ancient and ostensibly as important as documents that make up the accepted New
Testament.
“Everything we have is a copy of a copy of a
copy of a copy. We have no original documents,” he said Thursday. “What you
have are traditions of writing.”
Taussig said that even considering a
non-celibate Jesus would be a “huge shift” for some. “This is where people will
take the most offense,” he said. “But for many married people, this might make
Jesus feel closer.”
The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit who last
month came out with a travelogue based on Jesus’s life, said there is a lot of evidence that
Jesus was single.
“It’s incredible that the four Gospel
writers wouldn’t have mentioned Jesus’s wife if he had one. They mentioned
everyone else in his family,” Martin said. “There are Gospels that talk about
Jesus turning stones into birds. ... There is a natural desire to know as much
as we can about Jesus.’’
Martin added: “But funnily enough, people
who are quick to accept the veracity of this” appear to be liberal Christians
who question the veracity of other biblical accounts, including that of the
Resurrection, Martin said.
The Harvard Review included an article by a
Brown University Egyptologist, Leo Depuydt, who said the document looked
fraudulent and “hilarious.” He said he had never seen ancient Coptic
manuscripts with boldface letters before.
“The effect is something like: ‘My wife. Get
it? MY wife. You heard that right.’ The papyrus fragment seems ripe for a Monty
Python sketch,” he wrote.
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