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"The Gospel of Jesus' Wife" authenticated
Source
Source #2 Quote:
Spoiler:
Given that the document is essentially authenticated, what does it prove? The notion that early Christianity was still codifying and streamlining the various forms and sects of Christianity is well known, but does this document prove that Jesus as a historical figure, had a wife, and potentially an earthly family? (INB4 DA VINCI CODE CONSPIRACY THEORY ZOMG) Given that his supposed wife was the biblical Mary Magdalene, does this change the old role of women in the church, and of religious gender roles in general? Does this damage the credibility of the Vatican, and of the Christian message in general? |
Oooh, fun! Before I get into the topic proper, I'd like to make a point of distinction. There is no singular "Christian message". Jesus' teachings, and the Bible in general, have always been interpreted differently by people who understand the world differently. This is evident within the New Testament, where Jesus' teachings of universal love and tolerance in the four Gospels are followed by thoroughly ethnocentric interpretations of those teachings in the following books.
This phenomenon is also evident when one compares the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas, a book which eschews tradition from the get-go, with the canon Gospels, which are steeped in Jewish tradition and mythic-membership mentality even as they begin to move away from it. From Wikipedia's article on the Gospel of Thomas: Compare Thomas 8 SV 8. And Jesus said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!" 47"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." My point is that Jesus' message is interpreted in different ways according to how one understands the world. If one holds the Christian message to be that women are not "good enough" to be clergy, then this discovery is potentially damaging. However, if one has moved past this level of ethnocentrism, this discovery does not damage the Christian message, because the Christian message is no longer misogynistic! As for the Vatican, they may have to do some soul-searching, or they may simply attempt to discredit the finding. I know that a lot of people who don't think gays and women belong in the clergy will be doing the latter. These people arrived at their belief through the authority of tradition, and not through the authority of logic and reasoning. Therefore, logical arguments have no ability to change their beliefs. Also, I don't think a single document is sufficient to prove that Jesus had a wife. I believe there is other anecdotal or circumstantial evidence, but I'm not sure. All in all, it's not surprising that we find no mention of Jesus having a wife. Even if he did, it was very very rare in those days to find someone who considered men and women to be equals, so that part would've been hushed up. The writers of the gospels, as well as the Christian establishment that eventually followed them, had a vested interest in keeping women down - it allowed them to keep the power they were accustomed to having. Which is another reason I don't buy in to the argument that "The other writers would've mentioned it." Equality for women is not a traditional value, it's a modern one. If we can manage to conclusively show that Jesus had a wife, and considered her equal, we would have a way for the extremely traditionally-minded people to act in a worldcentric way without having to develop worldcentric cognition and morals. Unfortunately, those people will be fighting tooth and nail to preserve their traditions. On the bright side, however, we seem to be generally moving away from extreme ethnocentrism to a more mild or tolerant ethnocentrism... at least in some parts of the world :/ |
http://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2011/06/does-the-gospel-of-thomas-belong-alongside-the-new-testament-gospels/
Read this. The gospel of Thomas isn't from the bible. Jesus didnt have a wife. These are my theories about the passage: a) Jesus was referring to the bride if Christ (the church) b) the bible never says Jesus was married. It would have been written about. The passage is fake and wrong. I think I'm going with b. |
It's important to note the time period that this "gospel" was written in - they estimate 5th to 9th century. The latest-written gospel accepted into the Bible is from the 4th century. These all seem nearly interchangeable to us since there are 21 centuries now, but this would be like publishing a book about the 15th century now and expecting it to be just as accurate as a book published in 1750.
The "right way" to be Christian was a fight even from the first century; anyone who has done any basic study of Theology can tell you that. It's not surprising that Jesus having a wife or not having a wife was an issue of theological concern back then, and the historical reality isn't really relevant to the theological reality in that sense. Anyone who believes that the Gospels were written as historical documents is misguided; they were written just as much as subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) guidebooks to Christianity just like many of the Old Testament books are guides to Judaism. |
I have actually read about the possibility of Jesus having a wife before, and most experts conclude that is is very likely that Jesus had a wife. In the past, and even all the way up through history, not having a wife/husband has always been looked down upon. Not being married could simply get you excluded from society, and unmarried people were suspected of being evil, or even worse, gay.
But what difference would it make if he had a wife? his sayings and morals would still be the same, right? am I missing something? Also, our current view on women as equals to men did not exist until the beginning of the 20th century. So it makes total sense for the bible not to mention women in power, because most women were not in positions of power. Also as others have pointed out, the bible was written 100 to 400 years A.D. which of course would leave out most details. My main point of concern is that people seem to be taking the new testament too seriously. This is how I view it: The new testament has been written by a few different guys, who agree on some facts, but disagree on most. They cannot be seen as actual factual evidence, nor have they been written to be so. These books should, however, be seen metaphorically. The bible doesn't want to tell you stories about god's son. It wants to teach you morals. It teaches you the moral guidelines of our society, as well as how to be good towards others. The bible is full of great stories, but like Aesop's fables, you have to look past the words written, and get the meaning behind it. |
Ahaha things like this is why im a proud Atheist who believes in no mans religion/s
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