E*V
发帖数: 200 | 1 Newly revealed Coptic fragment has Jesus making reference to 'my wife'
By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
(CNN) - A newly revealed, centuries-old papyrus fragment suggests that some
early Christians might have believed Jesus was married. The fragment, writte
n in Coptic, a language used by Egyptian Christians, says in part, "Jesus sa
id to them, 'My wife ..."
Harvard Divinity School Professor Karen King announced the findings of the 1
1/2- by 3-inch honey-colored fragment on Tuesday in Rome at the Internation
al Association for Coptic Studies.
King has been quick to add this discovered text "does not, however, provide
evidence that the historical Jesus was married," she wrote in a draft of her
analysis of the fragment set to appear in the January edition of Harvard Th
eological Review. The divinity school has posted a draft of King's article t
o which AnneMarie Luijendijk, an associate professor of religion at Princeto
n University, contributed.
"This fragment, this new piece of papyrus evidence, does not prove that (Jes
us) was married, nor does it prove that he was not married. The earliest rel
iable historical tradition is completely silent on that. So we're in the sam
e position we were before it was found. We don't know if he was married or n
ot," King said in a conference call with reporters.
"What I'm really quick to say is to cut off people who would say this is pro
of that Jesus was married because historically speaking, it's much too late
to constitute historical evidence," she continued. "I'm not saying he was, I
'm not saying he wasn't. I'm saying this doesn't help us with that question,
" she continued.
Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter
In the accounts of Jesus' life in the Bible, there is no mention of his mari
tal status, while the accounts do mention Jesus' mother, father and siblings
. The four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - tell the story of Jesus'
birth and early childhood then skip to his short, three-year ministry befor
e detailing his death and resurrection.
The idea that Jesus was married is not a new one.
In other writings about the life of Jesus from antiquity suggest Jesus may h
ave been married to Mary Magdalene, a disciple who was close to Jesus. Autho
r Dan Brown also used the idea of Jesus being married as a jumping off point
for the fictional novel "The Da Vinci Code." King dismissed that notion in
her call with reporters.
“There’s no indication we have that Jesus was married,” said Darrell Bock
, a senior research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological
Seminary. “One could say the text is silent on Jesus’ marital status is b
ecause there was nothing to say.”
Initial dating for the honey-colored fragment by the team of scholars puts t
he papyrus piece coming out of the middle of the second century.
King is referring to the fragment as the "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife" or "Gos
JesWife" as a short hand for reference, and noting that the abbreviation doe
s not mean this scrap has the same historical weight as the canonical Gospel
s.
Biblical scholars often use the term gospel to refer to a genre of ancient w
ritings featuring dialogue between Jesus and his disciples, King notes in he
r paper. The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Judas ar
e just a few of the ancient accounts about the life of Jesus that Christians
do not consider canonical.
At the conference, King said another professor suggested the fragment could
have come from the text of a homily, or sermon, where the writer was using t
his phrase as a literary device. She told reporters that while she will cons
ider that as a possibility, the fragment is “probably a gospel. Probably fr
om the second century and most close to the Gospels of Mary, Thomas and Phil
ip.”
Bock agreed with the notion that the text fragment shared similarities with
those gospels, called the Gnostic Gospels, which were the writings of an ear
ly outlier sect of Christians. He said the text could be referring to a "gno
stic rite of marriage that is a picture of the church and Jesus, not a real
wife."
But he added, "it’s a small text with very little context. We don’t know w
hat’s wrapped around it to know what it’s saying.”
Bock said it’s likely to be a gnostic text if it proves to be authentic. “
The whole text needs vetting. She’s doing the right thing to release it and
let scholars take a look at,” he said, adding “it’s a little bit like tr
ying to analyze the game in the first quarter.”
“It’s a historical curiosity but doesn’t really tell us who Jesus was,”
Bock said. “It’s one small speck of a text in a mountain of texts of about
Jesus.”
CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories
The owner of the fragment has been identified by King as a private collector
who has asked to stay anonymous. The owner brought the fragment to Harvard
have King examine it in December 2011.
King then brought it to the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at
New York University. Roger Bagnall, the institute's director and an expert o
n papyrus, examined it and determined it to be authentic, Bangall confirmed
to CNN.
Ariel Shisha-Halevy, professor of linguistics at Hebrew University, Jerusale
m, who was asked to examine the authenticity, according to the draft of the
article, told King via e-mail, “I believe - on the basis of language and gr
ammar - the text is authentic. That is to say, all its grammatical ‘notewor
thy’ features, separately or conjointly, do not warrant condemning it as fo
rgery.”
Little is known about the origin of the text. Because both sides of the frag
ment have writing on them, King said it could have come out of a book rather
than a scroll.
"Just like most of the earliest papyri of the New Testament and other litera
ry and documentary papyri, a fragment this damaged could have come from an a
ncient garbage heap," the King says building on prior research by Luijendijk
.
King writes "the importance of the 'Gospel of Jesus’ Wife' lies in supplyin
g a new voice within the diverse chorus of early Christian traditions about
Jesus that documents that some Christians depicted Jesus as married."
The Smithsonian Channel also announced Monday that it will air a special on
King's findings on September 30.
Eric Marrapodi - CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
Filed under: Bible ? Christianity ? Faith Now ? Jesus
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/18/fragment-suggests-jesu
/?hpt=hp_c1 | E*****m
发帖数: 25615 | | w*****r
发帖数: 7106 | 3 抹大拿的玛丽亚。
some
writte
sa
1
Internation
provide
【在 E*V 的大作中提到】
: Newly revealed Coptic fragment has Jesus making reference to 'my wife'
: By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
: (CNN) - A newly revealed, centuries-old papyrus fragment suggests that some
: early Christians might have believed Jesus was married. The fragment, writte
: n in Coptic, a language used by Egyptian Christians, says in part, "Jesus sa
: id to them, 'My wife ..."
: Harvard Divinity School Professor Karen King announced the findings of the 1
: 1/2- by 3-inch honey-colored fragment on Tuesday in Rome at the Internation
: al Association for Coptic Studies.
: King has been quick to add this discovered text "does not, however, provide
| w*********r
发帖数: 3382 | 4 da vinci code
哈哈，go dan brown
耶稣的后人现居韩国 | j*******7
发帖数: 6300 | | s*********a
发帖数: 801 | | K*V
发帖数: 98 | 7 现在人都很聪明
some
writte
sa
1
Internation
provide
【在 E*V 的大作中提到】
: Newly revealed Coptic fragment has Jesus making reference to 'my wife'
: By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
: (CNN) - A newly revealed, centuries-old papyrus fragment suggests that some
: early Christians might have believed Jesus was married. The fragment, writte
: n in Coptic, a language used by Egyptian Christians, says in part, "Jesus sa
: id to them, 'My wife ..."
: Harvard Divinity School Professor Karen King announced the findings of the 1
: 1/2- by 3-inch honey-colored fragment on Tuesday in Rome at the Internation
: al Association for Coptic Studies.
: King has been quick to add this discovered text "does not, however, provide
|
|
