Finally, liberals have found old writings about Jesus that they actually like. Thank goodness. You know how nothing in the Bible is to be believed because it was written by neanderthal nutjobs many years after Jesus died. Well forget all that. A Harvard professor has a document dating back to the 4th century that mentions Jesus’ wife. They’re not sure where she got it which is always a sure sign that it’s authentic. But it’s totally awesomely true because…well because the Church hates women. Or something.
The poor dears haven’t been this excited since Sandra Fluke spoke truth to power about contraceptives.
A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …’”
The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”
The finding is being made public in Rome on Tuesday at an international meeting of Coptic scholars by the historian Karen L. King, who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.
The provenance of the papyrus fragment is a mystery, and its owner has asked to remain anonymous. Until Tuesday, Dr. King had shown the fragment to only a small circle of experts in papyrology and Coptic linguistics, who concluded that it is most likely not a forgery. But she and her collaborators say they are eager for more scholars to weigh in and perhaps upend their conclusions.
Even with many questions unsettled, the discovery could reignite the debate over whether Jesus was married, whether Mary Magdalene was his wife and whether he had a female disciple. These debates date to the early centuries of Christianity, scholars say. But they are relevant today, when global Christianity is roiling over the place of women in ministry and the boundaries of marriage.
The discussion is particularly animated in the Roman Catholic Church, where despite calls for change, the Vatican has reiterated the teaching that the priesthood cannot be opened to women and married men because of the model set by Jesus.
It’s like Jesus was speaking through the centuries and agreeing with the NY Times editorial page. Now, if only they believed Jesus actually existed.
September 18, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Like Father Sirico said in his homily Sunday about Peter rebuking Jesus, "it's like Peter saying 'And God said…. and I tend to agree with Him.'"
September 18, 2012 at 9:05 pm
All Christians, To the Embassy!!!!
September 18, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Seriously though… It will "reignite debate over whether Jesus… had a female disciple"?!
Like the Church doesn't teach that Mary and Mary and the other Mary and Martha and all those other women the bible names and calls disciples weren't really disciples?
Agenda much?
September 18, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Now if this were from the 1st century & in Jesus' handwriting, I might lend some creedence to it. But a bit of papyrus with something written on it 300 years later & no context. . . Well this just shows how desperate they are to undermine the truth.
September 18, 2012 at 9:58 pm
And it's not even Easter or Christmas, which is usually when they release these stories.
I will immediately do a 180 on my beliefs about Jesus because of this amazing piece of paper written in Coptic 400 years after. Um…well, maybe not.
September 18, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Bride of Christ…bride of Christ. Where have I heard that phrase before?
September 18, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Well, hey, I heard some fellow say that he once listened to a tape on which someone said that he knew a guy who knew an archaeologist who said that he found…
This one's right down there with "The Vatican says…"
September 18, 2012 at 11:21 pm
Hmm it is election year. Didn't Obama attend Harvard?
Jesus said: "The Father and I are ONE". If Jesus has a wife, then too, God, the Father has a wife. If all mankind are the adopted children of God, God, the Father’s wife is his adopted daughter in an incestuous relationship. If all mankind are brothers and sisters in Christ, then Jesus Christ’s wife is his adopted sister in an incestuous relationship. Who is God, the Father’s daughter in law? How does the Supreme Sovereign Being marry a finite human being? How does our Creator, who makes all things out of nothing not make for Himself an infinite wife? How does an infinite God, God without beginning, without end, create an infinite being? Create means to have a finite beginning, therefore, where did God find another infinite being just rolling around heaven?
Jesus Christ’s mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary preserved from original sin, had a beginning, a humble beginning as a creature of God.
If Jesus Christ lied when He said: “I and the Father are ONE.” Who cares how many wives He had???and how does that help me get to heaven? Oh, and by the way, did they find my name on that piece of papyrus and was it spelled right? It is Mary De Voe you know, with a space between the small e and the capital V. I hope they find my name on that piece of papyrus.
September 19, 2012 at 12:47 am
That's a bit like someone finding my business card 2,000 years from now and saying it impacts the meaning of the Constitution.
September 19, 2012 at 3:29 pm
"…she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …'”
This must be a mistranslation- it must actually say: “Jesus said to them, ‘TAKE My wife …'" and if we find the other piece of the papyrus we would find the word "….Please!"
That joke is older than we know!
September 19, 2012 at 5:40 pm
I am pretty sure there was more then one human named Jesus. This could have been about Jesus Barabbas not Jesus the Son of God! Give me a break…I am so glad that our Catholic Religion is not full of hatred like the Muslims or we would go mad killing all those who attack the Bride of Christ. How many centuries of attacks directed toward Jesus' Church will suffice? The gates of hell will not prevail against it.
September 19, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Wait! The Bible also mentions something about Jesus' wife… the Church!
Eph. 5:23-27, Col. 1:18 – Christ is the head of the Church, His Bride, for which He died to make it Holy and without blemish. There is only one Church, just as Christ only has one Bride.
September 20, 2012 at 1:29 am
So the NYT is convinced that everything in the Bible is true and this is new additional information? Seems to me they would have to accept the existing truths of the Bible otherwise promoting this new doc as true, while young the rest of it isn't would be an argument only an idiot would make.