Jesus' Wife

[Foxaèr]

Scholars at the Harvard Theological Review announced Thursday that they see no evidence of forgery in an ancient text mentioning “Jesus’ wife.” The fragment of parchment made waves 18 months ago when scholars first made its discovery public. But before jumping to any conclusions, here’s what’s most important to keep in mind.

Carbon dating of the “Jesus Wife” fragment dates the text to the 8th century in Egypt. That is some five hundred years after the official Biblical text was already agreed upon, even by the latest dating estimates. The point of the fragment has never been to prove that Jesus was or wasn’t married—the gospels themselves, written within a hundred or so years of Jesus’ death, are silent on that point.

Today it is easy to imagine that the Bible has always been one cohesive book. But it actually took centuries for early church leaders and theologians to agree on what letters, gospels, and writings counted as “canonical,” allowed to be counted as the official Word of God. Hundreds of different gospel writers and authors wrote hundreds of texts about God and Jesus. Today we have fragments upon fragments of these documents, some are quite long, some are no more than a word, or a half a word.

While not all of them were accepted as Scripture, they do tell us something about how communities worshiped and what was important to them. So, if the parchment fragment is indeed authentic, it tells us that there was at least one community of believers that imagined that Jesus did have a wife, and it meant enough to how they lived their spiritual lives that they recorded it in a parchment. Without more information, we are left to imagine what that meant for how they allowed women to work in churches or what role they gave women in society.

It also tells us something about our own contemporary views about God. We are fascinated with the idea that maybe, a God made human could have married. We wonder what implications that has for how we should view women, especially in a time when Pope Francis seems to be nudging the door open for women in the Catholic Church.

And, one thing is for certain: everyone wishes the fragment could have been bigger.

http://time.com/57705/jesus-wife-parchme...en-church/

If Jesus had a wife, and was not without sin, because he enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh, then he was not the perfect sacrifice. It is one of the reasons that any scripture mentioning Jesus as less than the perfect divinity was left out of the final compilation of the bible.

[Minimalist]

There are many 'gospels' which xtians run from as if they were in a 100 yard dash. The Nag Hammadi texts show the variability of early xtian belief and it is something that the orthodox simply cannot stand.

That this is one of them is not a surprise. That it is in Coptic is not a surprise since the climate of Egypt is superior for preserving organic materials like parchment.

At the end of the day it does not matter. ALL gospels are fanfics written well after the events they purport to describe. Who cares?

[DeistPaladin]

If Jesus had a wife, and was not without sin, because he enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh,

"Sin" is a bogus concept, I'm sure most here will agree, and thus can be defined and redefined in any way in order to suit any theological agenda. For example, a church that features a married Jesus might decide that sex within marriage is never sinful and thus Jesus still didn't sin and thus he still fits the theological bill that's completely made up anyway.

In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but "sin" is actually defined by Christianity as inconsistent with what Jesus wills. Thus, Jesus can't sin because Jesus wills what he wills. The tautology ensures he always fits with this arbitrary standard.

It's the same as StatlerWaldorf's definition of "goodness". Since his god is the measure by which he defines "good", that's how he knows that his good is "good". What do you mean, that's begging the question?

Without more information, we are left to imagine what that meant for how they allowed women to work in churches or what role they gave women in society.

My wife has been especially fascinated by this theory. While I don't normally take such wild speculation seriously, as we can't possibly know anything about the alleged Jesus even if we assume he existed and so he can be anything to anyone, I also find this possibility interesting enough to briefly muse on.

Forgive me, Min, but I must indulge...

[completely wild and unsupported speculation about Jesus, just like any other account of his life or the early church]
If Mary was banging Jesus, that would make her the natural primary church authority after Jesus' death. After all, a woman knows her mate in ways no one else can. Seriously, my wife has noticed things about me that I've never even noticed about myself. It's spooky sometimes how shrewdly socially observant women can be.

Could she have thus arisen as the leader of a rival faction? Hello, Paul saw Jesus in a vision while she have been fucking the holy man and was his significant other while he was on earth. Guess who's the better authority on what Jesus preached?

Maybe that's why Paul and his followers were such maladjusted misogynists who seemed to make a point about women shutting up in church and not having any teaching role or other authority.
[/completely wild and unsupported speculation about Jesus, just like any other account of his life or the early church]

[Minimalist]

Forgive me, Min, but I must indulge...

Indulge, away!


( P.S. the mysogynistic tendencies of "paul" are more pronounced in the pastoral epistles which are regarded by all but the densest of fundies to be pseudoepigraphic frauds from a much later date. The earlier..so-called "authentic" pauline epistles ( probably the ones invented by Marcion ) stand in stark contrast on the role of women.

As with so much else in xtiandom, the horseshit is knee deep.)

[JesusHChrist]

If Jesus had a wife, and was not without sin, because he enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh, then he was not the perfect sacrifice.

Just wait until Jesus' girlfriend finds out about this.

[Godlesspanther]

If Jesus had a wife, and was not without sin, because he enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh, then he was not the perfect sacrifice.

Just wait until Jesus' girlfriend finds out about this.

She did and she was soooooo pissed, she crucified him. Now we know the real story.

[Minimalist]

"Hell hath no fury......"

[DeistPaladin]

If Jesus had a wife, and was not without sin, because he enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh, then he was not the perfect sacrifice.

Just wait until Jesus' girlfriend finds out about this.

His boyfriend John, the beloved disciple, was none too pleased either.

[Anomalocaris]

The brotherhoods of closet homosexuals must be deeply disappointed their god boy could have strayed and have been bisexual.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Stipulating for the sake of discussion (and ONLY for that) that there was an historic Jesus, the silence of the Gospels regarding his marital status is a pretty good indication that he was married. It would have been so unusual for a man of his age and station to be unmarried, the Gospel authors would have commented on it. Probably something like:

And Jesus, who was the Christ and the lamb of God, took no woman to wife

Hagiographers have a tendency to comment on the unusual. Feeding a multitude with a few buns and fishes is more noteworthy than recording every time Jesus went to the toilet.

Boru