The Gospel of Jesus' Wife?

Great is the mystery of marriage! For without it, the world would not exist." 

- The Gospel of Philip

By now, you're sure to have seen the news about a tiny piece of papyrus, about the size of a business card, that may mention a wife of Jesus.  In case you haven't, here is the NY Times piece: A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus’ Wife.  Some folks have already made up their minds, and April DeConick hints that if you're not sure, then you're probably a mean old misogynist.  Others still have concerns.

To me, it has always made sense that Jesus was married, and it seems like Ms. Magdalene is a pretty good candidate for the position.  The Gospel of Philip refers to her as Jesus' companion, and says that they did a lot of smooching.

Valentinians have a really positive view of marriage, unlike some other Gnostic schools of thought.  The "mystery of marriage" is seen as an echo of the syzygies in the Pleroma, the male-female pairs of Aeons, seen here:

 

* But it still is not time to dust off your copy of HBHG.

Here is a draft of Karen L. King's article about the gospel papyrus, and below are images of the papyrus and translations, from the Harvard Divinity School website:

 

Papyrus fragment: front. Karen L. King 2012

Papyrus fragment: back. Karen L. King 2012

Related links/more information:

• New Gospel Fragment: Preliminary Notes and Hypothesis
• And Now The Motive For the Announcement of the ‘Jesus’ Wife’ Fragment May Be Coming to Light
• Holy Blood, with Fries
• Did Jesus have a wife? 
• So what if Jesus did have a wife? 
• Ancient papyrus: Was Jesus Married? Don’t overlook this perspective… 

Karen L. King and the papyrus fragment that may refer to Jesus' wife