Ancient papyrus refers to Jesus having a wife!

BOSTON, Massachusetts (PNN) - September 24, 2012 - The debate rages on within religious historian circles that Jesus of Nazareth may have had a wife. The latest to stake a claim that the revered founder of Christianity might not have been celibate or single is well-respected historian and scholar of Harvard Divinity School, Dr. Karen L. King.

King held a news conference to present to the press evidence for the claim.

The center of the latest controversy revolves around a faded, incomplete piece of papyrus dated to about the Fourth Century that purports to make reference to the Christ's wife.

Many claims have been circulated during the past several centuries that Jesus had a wife, she may have been Mary Magdalene, and that one of the apostles too might have been a woman. Much of the evidence has come from Gnostic writings that many in the Christian churches tend to discount. One by one, pieces of evidence have fallen short of satisfying either scholars or the religious community at large.

What continually seems to trip up scholars in their quest to prove Jesus was married or not is an embarrassment of riches regarding the name Mary. There are too many references to Mary in the New Testament that may be one woman or another.

As noted by the New York Times, "Is she Jesus's mother... or his wife? Scholars have long noted "the confusion of Marys" in early Christianity, due not least to the ubiquity of this name (Maria, Mariam, Mariamme) for Jewish women in the period. One of the most influential confusions has been the identification of Mary of Magdala with three other figures: Mary of Bethany (John 11:1-2; 12:1-3), the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11), and the sinner woman (Luke 7:37-38), resulting in the erroneous portrait of Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute. Another is the confusion of Jesus's mother with Mary of Magdala, and even the substitution of the mother for her, for example as the first witness to the resurrected Jesus in John 20:11-17."

Those that practice religion see the Bible in a different perspective than those that approach it in a secular manner as a historical document and not necessarily the word of God.

Another such controversy was stirred in March 2011 by theologian and historian Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who proclaimed that an ancient statue revealed some early Hebrews believed God had a wife and her name was Asherah.

A press release from Harvard and Dr. King emphasized that "this fragment should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married."

Indeed, not only are scholars unsure that Jesus was married; some are not convinced that Jesus was truly a historical person at all.

Other scholars were quick to question, even condemn the papyrus, calling it "dodgy".

The UK's Daily Mail jumped into the debate with its own article.

The Daily Mail quotes, among other experts, Alin Suciu, a University of Hamburg papyrologist who said of the papyrus, "I would say it's a forgery. The script doesn't look authentic."

Wolf-Peter Funk, a Coptic linguist, told the newspaper the fragment couldn’t be judged as it has no context. He called it "suspicious," and said, "There are thousands of scraps of papyrus where you find crazy things. It can be anything."

So the debate rages onward.