Friday, April 11, 2014

(WR) Eighth Century Papyrus mentions Jesus' Wife

Recent studies suggest that a famous fragment of text from the eighth century may be authentic rather than a modern forgery. If it is genuine, it would tell us nothing much about whether the historical Jesus was married (none of the none gospels say anything about that one way or the other), but could say quite a bit about the early controversy over whether Christians should get married at all. Part of this controversy concerned lingering apocalypticism (why have a family if the world is ending?), and part may be about the practicalities of Christian organizing work (we discussed the concept of a "sister wife" as missionary traveling companion earlier). http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/10/new-tests-show-evidence-forgery-gospel-jesus-wife/IusII8b4eI86HgDTKipLhN/story.html

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