The”Gospel of Jesus Wife” is not fraudulent, writes Lisa Wangsness of The Boston Globe. That’s different than saying it is an authentic account of past events, which is a subject beyond my competency to determine, but it does put the controversial text back in play for students of the early church.
New scientific tests have turned up no evidence of modern forgery in a text written on ancient Egyptian papyrus that refers to Jesus as being married, according to a long-awaited article to be published Thursday in the Harvard Theological Review.
The findings support the argument of Harvard professor Karen L. King that the controversial text, the first-known explicit reference to a married Jesus, is almost certainly an authentic document.
The “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” was introduced to the world by King at a conference in Rome 18 months ago. The announcement made headlines around the world, and many of King’s academic peers, as well as the Vatican newspaper, swiftly dismissed it as a fake.
King says “the major issue being talked about [in the document] was that Jesus was affirming that wives and mothers can be his disciples.”
The Rev. James Martin writes that very few scripture scholars believe that Jesus was married.