Growing up as a Roman Catholic type of Christian in Australia, where my parents sent me to private schools run by nuns, brothers and priests, and in a family who went to mass every Sunday, I automatically believed a lot of things simply because I never heard anything different. Whilst much of that started to change as I read more widely and became more critical in high school, it never occurred to me that Jesus himself might actually have had a wife, but it appears that even this is not so certain as many Christians have traditionally believed.
According to
" 'Wife of Jesus' Reference in Coptic 4th Century Script", a business card sized piece of ancient papyrus contains the words "Jesus said to them, 'my wife' ". However, the article also clearly reports that Karen King, the Harvard University professor who has recently presented her research for further critical discussion by academics in various fields, directly says that this "was not proof of Jesus's marital status", only that some very early Christians did believe that he had had a wife.
 |
| The piece of papyrus, photographed by Dr. King |
As you might have inferred from my title, and certainly from the previous paragraph, I thought that this story was good news. The first thing I like is that it's another example of how valuable disagreement and argument is whenever we want to learn the truth about anything. This example is from a very different field than the biological research on the possible effects of GM crops which I responded to a couple of days ago. In fact, I think that Dr. King has behaved in the best academic tradition: she started by assuming the scrap of papyrus was a forgery, and got the advise of other experts who she thought might disagree with her conclusions, an essential step if errors and misunderstandings are to be found and corrected. Again, since she made her research and conclusions public, there has been a lot of disagreement and argument. This tiny piece of ancient paper has caused, and continues to cause a lot of controversy in various scholarly fields and of course in society more generally, and that is a very good thing, as Dr. King herself happily agrees. She wants people to check her results because she cares about uncovering what is true. Finally, she has been very cautious and sensibly told everyone that even if it is perfectly real, it does not prove that Jesus had a wife, only that some very early Christian traditions believed that he had a wife.
In fact, I was thinking of blogging
The New York Times' reports on this fascinating story, but the
BBC News version is very good and the language is a bit easier. However, if you would like to read a more challenging account of this Harvard academic's work and the ongoing controversy, I recommend
"A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus' Wife", which is more detailed and more fully explores what this discovery might mean (Goldstein, 2012). And for the well-balanced and thoughtful response of a Jesuit priest and academic, also writing in The New York Times, the short opinion piece
"Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Christ?" might interest you (Martin, 2012).
I will be keeping an eye out for further articles on this as more academics from the different fields involved investigate and present their arguments for and against the the claims made by Dr. King.
Goldstein, L. (2012, September 18). A faded piece of papyrus refers to Jesus' wife.
The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/us/historian-says-piece-of-papyrus-refers-to-jesus-wife.html
Martin, J. (2012, September 19). Mr. and Mrs. Jesus Christ? The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/opinion/mr-and-mrs-jesus-christ.html
'Wife of Jesus' reference in Coptic 4th Century script. (2012, September 19).
BBC News Europe. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19645273
As I read and figure out this issue, the faithful in God may oppose that it is a great insult toward the God while some academics in theology have attempted to find the truth of this information.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, same as many critics, a small piece of ancient papyrus is prone to be genuine and the first key to conceal the fact that Jesus Christ had an ordinary life at that time, but his biography became supernatural and full of marvels.
Probably, the whole story was distorted by the Vatican in order to augment its legitimacy and followers during the Middle Ages, the so-called "Dark Age". If the antique can prove an old doubtful version of origin of Christianity.
Indeed, I don't intend to attack any religion. However, I think a large number of religious belief was constructed to teach people, even good or bad, not exactly in history or never happened in ancient time.
Cee,
DeleteOne reason I also mentioned and cited the article by James Martin is that he is a Jesuit priest, the group most famously loyal to the papacy. His opinion did seem to me a very thoughtful and response, a bit surprisingly so.
But I think you might be right that in the early days of the Christian church, a lot of people were fighting to support their own interpretations about Jesus as they tried to get rid of and suppress other ideas. In the end, the group that became the popes won.
Another example of why truly free speech is so absolutely essential if we prefer knowledge to ignorance.
I've done my two or more response comments now.
DeleteBut I'll check again before I go to bed.
When I read this article, I remembered a book The Da Vinci Code (2003) written by Dan Brown. The story concerns with religion, especially Catholic. It is also released as a movie in 2006. This book is fiction but the author states that this description is on the basis of fact. He refers to the meaning of art, a secret society, religious dogma and more (I’m not sure). I was interested in it but at the same time, I felt fear because religious issues are sensitive. This book is also a controversial one. It is difficult to talk about religions in daily life but with such as new discovery or this kind of book can be good opportunity to discuss or find the truth. I think it provides valuable idea too.
ReplyDeleteToday world is more judicious than the earlier day because of many new inventions. We can know the age of an ancient fossil by using some chemicals. We can detect some disease by using X-ray. Consequently, people today choose to believe something based on proof.
ReplyDeleteMany myths were added or even hidden some information in order to make more respectful. Probably they did not intend to do but some people maybe intended. As we knew, in the past, people remembered stories through word of mouth. Storytellers likely needed to draw people attention;therefore, they might add some enchant events into stories. Or maybe stories were extremely long. While the tellers worked, they would forget some parts or even add new events into stories. Some stories we knew they might be completely different from the original. All proofs of the stories disappeared as same time as people in the stories died. It was about thousand years ago. No one know the real stories were.
However,in present, technology turn on the light of history and change dramatically human customs and cultures. People have more freedom and right. Consequently,you can choose your beliefs; it depends on you.