Scholars Begin to Weigh in on ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’
Scholars Begin to Weigh in on ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’
A week after Harvard professor Karen L. King announced she had identified what she believed to be a fourth-century fragment of papyrus portraying Jesus as married, her finding continues to generate sharp debate — and significant skepticism — in academic circles.
The news was arguably the biggest story regarding early Christian history in recent memory and generated a massive response, from obscure biblical blogs to late night television and Twitter.
Some scholars appear to be biding their time before weighing in. But so far — aside from the academics who contributed to King’s initial research, including one of the world’s leading papyrologists — no prominent scholar has yet offered a strong endorsement of the fragment’s authenticity.
Several top Coptic specialists dismissed the fragment as a probable forgery almost immediately after King’s presentation at a major gathering of scholars in Rome.
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And a British New Testament scholar, Francis Watson, posted several short papers online during the last week arguing — persuasively, to some in the field — that the fragment’s text is probably a modern forger’s pastiche of words and phrases taken from the single surviving copy of the Gospel of Thomas.
“My view is, the jury is out still, but it’s not looking good for authenticity,” said Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Several religion blogs reported Wednesday that the Harvard Theological Review had decided not to publish King’s paper. But King shared a statement she received Wednesday from the Theological Review saying her research will be published in January, assuming that testing on the fragment is complete. The scholarly publication also plans to include King’s responses “to the vigorous and appropriate academic debate engendered by the discovery of the fragment.”