UPDATE::New clues cast doubt on 'Gospel of Jesus' Wife' – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

Sigh, I am so confused. "It seemed real; it seemed fake; it seemed real again; now we’re back to fake." At least my question from before is still valid.

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From the beginning, there were doubts, however, beyond the unlikelihood that the tiny scrap that survived the centuries would happen to be the one that contained the reference to Jesus’ wife.

The papyrus, along with a few other ancient papyri of lesser novelty, had been passed to King by an anonymous figure.

Anonymity, in the world of antiquities, is often a bad sign, compounding the inherent uncertainty when dealing with texts that are bought and sold rather than discovered in a firm archaeological setting.

Then there were aspects of the text itself that seemed suspicious.

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And yet, the dating of the papyrus and ink did shift the burden back on to the doubters. And just this past week, they seem to have discovered something as close to proof as we can really expect in cases like this.

Although we knew in 2012 that there were other papyri in the same group that included the “Jesus' wife” fragment – the batch the anonymous donor gave King - none of them had been seen.

That changed with the release of the test results, which used some of these other papyri for the purposes of comparison.

One of those papyri was a fragment of the canonical Gospel of John. For all the uncertainty about the Jesus’ wife papyrus, this text of John evoked no such indecision. It is a forgery.

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So what does it matter to the Jesus’ wife fragment that this scrap of John is forgery?

Well, it’s never a good sign for a text of doubtful authenticity to be found in the company of a sure forgery.

More directly: Multiple experts agree that the fragment of John and the Jesus’ wife papyrus are written in the same hand, using the same ink and even the same writing instrument.

Simply put: If one is a forgery, they’re both forgeries.

New clues cast doubt on 'Gospel of Jesus' Wife' – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

If Jesus had a wife, would it change the GOP War on Women? | Informed Comment

I have been following the debate surrounding this "find" since it became public last year. The historical and archeological significance aside, I find the question the author is asking an intriguing one: would the structure of church hierarchy be different if Christ had a wife?

Like the author who specifically points to the passage in 1 Corinthians, I do believe that the church (the Reich in particular) focuses on this passage in regards to the social structure. What many within the church do not seem to understand, modern Christianity comes from Paul, not Jesus (hence why I call it Paulianity). Christianity did not exist in the time of Christ and the term "christian" was not used until the book of Acts (11:26 & 26:28) and in a derogatory fashion. Christ never called himself a Christian, Christ never called his followers Christians. The Apostles used terms such as "brethren," "disciples,", "followers," or "servants."

So aberrant where Paul's teachings, some of the early churches (eastern Christian churches) avoided Paul's influence altogether. Today, as testament , we have a remarkable document called the Didache, or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.

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The early Church fathers loved Paul's teachings because they reflected the general contempt for women prevalent in Roman society. This eventually culminated in celibacy for priests.

But if it were correct, how might it change Christian sensibilities? For a holy figure to have a wife does not make the tradition more feminist, after all. The Jewish patriarchs and prophets were married, but Orthodox and Haredi Judaism are highly patriarchal. Likewise Islam, where the Prophet Muhammad (like Abraham and David) had several wives.

On the other hand, the text itself seems to be a pro-woman polemic defending the idea that women can be disciples of Christ even if married (Jesus is depicted as saying his wife is a disciple).

If Christian tradition were broadened to include these perspectives, it might help it escape the misogyny of some authors. For instance, the entire pyramidal structure erected by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:3 might be difficult to maintain: “But I want you to understand that the head [kephale] of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” But if Christ had a wife, the relationships wouldn’t be hierarchical like that. The man-wife dyad would obtain both at the level of Jesus and at the level of the believers. And if Paul thought he could keep women quiet in church, he had another think coming, especially if Mrs. Jesus could have had anything to say about it.

If Jesus had a wife, would it change the GOP War on Women? | Informed Comment