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• His name is Jesus

Scholars questioned the much-publicized discovery by a Harvard scholar that a 4th century fragment of papyrus provided the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus was married.

And experts in the illicit antiquities trade also wondered about the motive of the fragment's anonymous owner, noting that the document's value has likely increased amid the publicity of the still-unproven find.

Karen King, a professor of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School, announced the finding Tuesday at an international congress on Coptic studies in Rome. The text, written in Coptic and probably translated from a 2nd century Greek text, contains a dialogue in which Jesus refers to "my wife," whom he identifies as Mary.

King's paper, and the front-page attention it received in some U.S. newspapers that got advance word about it, was a hot topic of conversation Wednesday during coffee breaks at the conference.

Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was unmarried, although there is no reliable historical evidence to support that. Any evidence pointing to whether Jesus was married or had a female disciple could have ripple effects in current debates over the role of women in the church.

Stephen Emmel, a professor of Coptology at the University of Muenster who was on the international advisory panel that reviewed the 2006 discovery of the Gospel of Judas, said the text accurately quotes Jesus as saying "my wife." But he questioned whether the document was authentic.

"There's something about this fragment in its appearance and also in the grammar of the Coptic that strikes me as being not completely convincing somehow," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.

Another participant at the congress, Alin Suciu, a papyrologist at the University of Hamburg, was more blunt.

"I would say it's a forgery. The script doesn't look authentic" when compared to other samples of Coptic papyrus script dated to the 4th century, he said.

King acknowledged Wednesday that questions remain about the fragment, and she welcomed the feedback from her colleagues. She said she planned to subject the fragment to ink tests to determine if the chemical components match those used in antiquity.

"We still have some work to do, testing the ink and so on and so forth, but what is exciting about this fragment is that it's the first case we have of Christians claiming that Jesus had a wife," she said.

She stressed that the text doesn't provide any historical evidence that Jesus was actually married, only that some two centuries after he died, some early Christians believed he had a wife.

Wolf-Peter Funk, a noted Coptic linguist, said there was no way to evaluate the significance of the fragment because it has no context. It's a partial text and tiny, measuring 4 centimeters by 8 centimeters (1.5 inches by 3 inches), about the size of a small cellphone.

"There are thousands of scraps of papyrus where you find crazy things," said Funk, co-director of a project editing the Nag Hammadi Coptic library at Laval University in Quebec. "It can be anything."

He, too, doubted the authenticity, saying the form of the fragment was "suspicious."

Ancient papyrus fragments have been frequently cut up by unscrupulous dealers seeking to make more money.

An anonymous collector brought King the fragment in December 2011, seeking her help in translating and understanding it. In March, she brought it to two papyrologists who determined it was very likely authentic.

On Tuesday, Harvard Divinity School announced the finding to great fanfare and said King's paper would be published in January's Harvard Theological Review. Harvard said the fragment most likely came from Egypt, and that its earliest documentation is from the early 1980s indicating that a now-deceased professor in Germany thought it evidence of a possible marriage of Jesus.

Some archaeologists were quick to question Harvard's ethics, noting that the fragment has no known provenance, or history of where it's been, and that its owner may have a financial interest in the publicity being generated about it.

King has said the owner wants to sell his collection to Harvard.

"There are all sorts of really dodgy things about this," said David Gill, professor of archaeological heritage at University Campus Suffolk and author of the Looting Matters blog, which closely follows the illicit trade in antiquities. "This looks to me as if any sensible, responsible academic would keep their distance from it."

He cited the ongoing debate in academia over publishing articles about possibly dubiously obtained antiquities, thus potentially fueling the illicit market. He questioned, for example, whether the letter from the German Egyptologist was authentic, and whether Harvard should have contacted Egyptian authorities about the find.

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Sun May 19 19:00:39 SAST 2013 ::

Sep 20, 2012

RobinH

The established churches are going to do everything in their power to rubbish this document. It would overthrow, for instance, the entire patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church and no doubt countless other groupsings of which I do not know. Bang goes the requirement of celibacy for priests and the like. The vested interests are just too astronomical for the churches to let this be authenticised.
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Sep 20, 2012

JohnStone

Celibacy my foot, some of these religious zealots have been banging young boys at the same time pretending to be "celibate". I am a christian, but I also believe that God is no fool, hence he created Robin H and Lindiwe Mazibuko.
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Sep 20, 2012

Tabza325is

If we turn to the Pratimokska Sutra and other religious tracts of the Buddhists, we read the ten following commandments:
1. Thou shalt not kill any living creature.
2. Thou shalt not steal.
3. Thou shalt not break thy vow of chastity.
4. Thou shalt not lie.
5. Thou shalt not betray the secrets of others.
6. Thou shalt not wish for the death of thy enemies.
7. Thou shalt not desire the wealth of others.
8. Thou shalt not pronounce injurious and foul words.
9. Thou shalt not indulge in luxury (sleep on soft beds or be lazy).
10. Thou shalt not accept gold or silver.*

"Good master, what shall I do that I may have eternal life?" asks a man of Jesus. "Keep the commandments." "Which?" "Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,"** is the answer.

"What shall I do to obtain possession of Bhodi? (knowledge of eternal truth)" asks a disciple of his Buddhist master. "What way is there to become an Upasaka?" "Keep the commandments." "What are they?" "Thou shalt abstain all thy life from murder, theft, adultery, and lying," answers the master.***

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Sep 20, 2012

Solm

Well this doesnt surprise me.The same happened with the dead sea scrolls, they had pre-Jesus history that is vastly different from what the Church espouses.Only a small portions of the scrolls were released to the public, they rest is locked away in an Israeli museum! Thanks to the Catholic Church and the Israeli government, the truth about Jesus will always be circimvented.Howeer they cant keep their lies forever, at some point, one way or the other, when the time comes, the truth will come out.
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Sep 21, 2012

theDriver

@Tebza: what are you getting at?
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Sep 21, 2012

Babes7308

@Roin H, it is believed that there is a secret society known as Priory of Sion. It is believed that they are descendence of Jesus - obviously to have descendents there has to be a woman; however Christians more especially Catholics would do antything and everything to destroy that information. For now the society it is known as a fiction or a myth; slowly but surely people are starting to see that it was just about the power,influence and manupilation from the Catholics to control the world.For almost 2,000 years, the Church had maintained its power and influence. It had outlasted dynasties and nations. How could such a fall from power and grace happen to the elect of God? They constructed and doctrinated the Pope to be so powerful and infalible.
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Sep 21, 2012

theDriver

Conspiracy theories are just as bad as religion!
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Sep 21, 2012

RobinH

Mr Stone. Rather uncalled for, as usual, and also completely off the point. You really need to learn basic decency, you know. Pr!ck.

Babes, I am aware of those conspiracy theories, but don't really give them too much credence. However, I do believe that such a "revelation" will cause a major stir.
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