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:
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| Papyrus fragment: front. Karen L. King 2012 |
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| 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…
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| Karen L. King and the papyrus fragment that may refer to Jesus' wife |
