Gospel of Jesus’s Wife is Ancient

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

By Michelle Boorstein, Published: April 10 E-mail the writer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/harvard-journal-says-gospel-of-jesus-wife-is-ancient-not-a-modern-forgery/2014/04/10/7b172910-c0f7-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html

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.

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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.