ABC Special Explores if Jesus Had Wife

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 10.30.03 | DAVID BAUDER

[mhking]

NEW YORK — ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas concedes her network is stepping into a theological minefield with its one-hour exploration of whether Jesus Christ had a wife.

The ABC News special, "Jesus, Mary and DaVinci," is scheduled to air Monday at 8 p.m. ET.

"You can't talk about this subject without intriguing people or offending people," Vargas said Thursday. "We're trying to do it as respectfully as we can."

ABC screened the special for some reporters and religious leaders on Thursday. The program is based on the best-selling novel, "The DaVinci Code," which claims to be partly grounded on historical fact.

The book asserts that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife — not a prostitute, as in some teachings — and that she fled Jerusalem with his child following his crucifixion.

The story was kept alive for centuries by a secret society that included the painter Leonardo DaVinci, who supposedly inserted clues about it in his art, the book claimed.

The ABC special outlines the theories and speaks to several theologians who either discount the story or assert that it is possible.

The show unravels like a mystery perpetuated by secondhand gossip. Vargas said ABC found no proof that Jesus had a wife, but couldn't completely discount it, either.

Vargas, who was raised a Roman Catholic, said her own parents said to her, "Oh, my goodness, what are you doing?" when they found out she was working on the story.

She said she was never aware of the power struggles and political intrigue that went into how her faith is taught today.

"For me, it's made religion more real and, ironically, much more interesting — which is what we're hoping to do for our viewers," she said.

It drew some immediate criticism, particularly from a representative of the Catholic League, who said ABC News relied too heavily on the opinion of Father Richard McBrien of Notre Dame, who believes Mary Magdalene's importance has been historically understated and that it's possible she was his wife.

"I think it was not sufficiently balanced," said Joseph DeFeo, policy analyst for the Catholic League. "The majority of the people who spoke believed in either the plausibility or the outright truth of (book author) Dan Brown's claims. The facts themselves scream out that this is a crackpot theory."

The show even drew criticism from Nikki Stephanopoulos, mother of ABC News correspondent George and the communications director for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. She the special might offend people who believe that women have a more prominent role in the church.

[Romulus]

Supposedly a painting of Christ's tomb in Provence,

I don't know where you get this. The inscription on the tomb, Et in Arcadia Ego is deliberately ambiguous, but decidedly classical. The "ego" speaking is thought by some to be the person buried there, among the shepherds (Arcadia was proverbially bucolic); others regard it as the words of Death, announcing his presence even in this peaceful place of beauty.

The painting contains no Christian allusion that I can see.

[Gargantua]

"To a Jew, Jesus represents blasphemy."

Interesting point. He does indeed.

Did you know that the Bible predicted this [the Jews' denial of Christ until the "period of great tribulation"] thousands of years before Christ was born, and yet still some doubt Biblical Truth!?

Amazing, huh?

The New Testament even explains that God temporarily "hardened the hearts" of Israel to the Truth of Jesus, and his glorious purpose for so doing.

[Romulus]

That is a chick next to Jesus in the Last Supper.

I doubt it.

apart from the fact that it was customary for artists in the Italian Renaissance to portray young men with angelic beauty -- especially St. John, in thousands of examples -- there's the plain fact that the Dominican fathers whose convent refectory adjoining the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie was the site of the da Vinci fresco were the Church's fiercest doctrinal watchdogs, charged with administration of the Roman Inquisition among other things. They'd have been the last to tolerate a gnostic myth in their dining room.

Idiotic theories like the da Vinci Code flourish only because modern man's gross ignorance of his cultural past, and his childish readiness to believe extravagant myths -- the more fanciful, the better.

[Buggman]

A virgin gives birth to God who is then killed only to come back to life three days later and flies up into heaven. - That's not kooky (People with earnest yet vacant stares nod agreeingly.)

Historically speaking, the virgin birth can't be proven or disproven other than to point out that the text that records it has been shown to be utterly reliable in every single area in which it can be tested.

The Resurrection, on the other hand, is as certain an event as any other in ancient history. For centuries, men have tried to knock it down and have failed, for these simple reasons:

- Even secular historians of that time record that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, so there is no doubt that He did indeed die such a death.

- The Roman and Jewish authorities were not able to present the corpse of Jesus to kill infant Christianity in its cradle in Jerusalem . . . and they would've had every motivation to do so if they could.

- Christianity flourished in Jerusalem, the city in which establishing the facts of the case, whether for or against Christ, would've been easiest.

- The first disciples, those who were in a position to know for a fact whether or not Jesus really died and rose again, willingly died rather than recant their beliefs . . . and no man dies for a religious belief that he knows to be false when he could live by reputiating it.

- The very earliest texts of Christianity--those contained in the New Testament--many of which can be dated to within a few decades of the events that they record (and some, like 1 Corinthians, can be dated to within 15 years), all attest to Jesus Christ's Resurrection. The so-called "gospels" that assert that He had a wife and progeny and/or that He surivived crucifixion to run away didn't appear until centuries later.

If you choose to disbelieve, that is your choice. But don't attempt to put down those of us who have studied the issue and believe in Jesus as the Christ as being "kooks." We have too much intellectual evidence on our side to suppliment the spiritual.

[EveningStar]

Jesus was a Jew for his entire life. Christianity was created after the death of Jesus by Paul et al.

As for me, I am not yet officially a Jew. I have not yet completed my conversion studies and at this rate, I never will if I don't overcome my addiction to the Internet. :)

[EveningStar]

The person who related this information to me is an Eastern Catholic.

[EveningStar]

To a Jew, Jesus represents blasphemy.

Where did you hear this? I've talked to Jews. Many of them consider Jesus to have been a great man. They just don't believe in his divinity. To them, he is Jesus but not Jesus Christ (the Annointed). He is not the King, the Messiah. As I understand it, to Jews, the Messiah when he does come, will be a wise person but not a supernatural being with superpowers.

[Ann Archy]

What is an Eastern Catholic? I've never heard of them.

[Ann Archy]

You absolutely have NO idea of what you say....Christianity was started by Jesus Christ....it's why he came.....geesh, what religion were you before trying to be Jewish?

[TradicalRC]

I was way off in my originalpost regarding the quote; memory did not serve me well (bad memory!), but fortunately I remembered where I ran across the quote. BTW, I am a died-in-the-woll quotophile.

In one of my copies of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations- Fifteenth and 125th Anniversary edition under the sub-heading of Anonymous Latin quotes is this:

Et in Arcadia ego [ I too am in Arcadia].
Inscription on a tomb in a painting[c.1623] by Guercino [1591-1666]

Then there is this footnote:

That is, Even in Arcadia, there am I [ Death].
Bartolommeo Schidoni [ 1560-1616] wrote:Et ego in Arcadia vixi [ I too have lived in Arcadia]. Poussin, Reynolds, and others used this phrase in their paintings. E. Panofsky discusses the phrase in Philosophy and History: Essays presented to E. Cassirer [ 1936].

[TradicalRC]

Let us not forget the Jews for Jesus who DO recognize Him as Messiah. Except now the other Jews won't recognize the JFJ as Jews. Go figure.

[Jim Cane]

. . . and no man dies for a religious belief that he knows to be false when he could live by reputiating it.

David Koresh. Heaven's Gate.

[EveningStar]

Eastern Catholic, I guess, is similar to Orthodox. They celebrate Christmas on January 7, as do Orthodox. Do a Google search on Eastern Catholicism.

The views she expressed to me, however, were ones that in which she herself subscribed and were not Eastern Catholic in origin. What I was really trying to tell you was that the person who related this information to me was a Christian and not a Jew.

[EveningStar]

I was Episcopalian.

[Jim Cane]

I've talked to Jews. Many of them consider Jesus to have been a great man. They just don't believe in his divinity. To them, he is Jesus but not Jesus Christ (the Annointed). He is not the King, the Messiah. As I understand it, to Jews, the Messiah when he does come, will be a wise person but not a supernatural being with superpowers.

God: "1. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

"2. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments."

Christian: "Jesus is god, too. And you can't get to REAL God unless you go before subgod Jesus. You'll go to hell if you don't go through my special Christian invented change of command."

[bert]

.....Won't the Pope be surprised to hear this!....

Probably not. He is after all man charged with the responsibility for rationalizing all the actions of his predecessors. The whole discussion on this large thread is the result of opression of those who opposed orthodoxy.

It is wise to rememberthat there was a protestant movement that shed much of the orthodoxy of the Church of Rome. There is ample evidence of the Black Madonna (not Black in the sense of being Negro) and those who carry on her traditions today. I'm reluctant to say worship because I think they have Christian traditions and treat her as a saint not as devine.

And for the record, the Holy Grail has been described in this thread as the womb of Mary Magdelene. I am of the opinion that in various cited references the Grail is the fruit of her womb, a child, the descendant of Jesus and Mary. The priory of Scion existed to protect this secret from the RC church and to protect the vessel containing the blood of Christ, the current surviving child.

[bert]

.....They'd have been the last to tolerate a gnostic myth in their dining room....

Oh the irony of it all. Leanardo made fools of them in their own chapel.

[Jim Cane]

Did you know that the Bible predicted this [the Jews' denial of Christ until the "period of great tribulation"] thousands of years before Christ was born, and yet still some doubt Biblical Truth!?

Amazing, huh?

Not amazing at all. If I were to start a brand new religion, I would write down "predictions" that practitioners of the old religion would call my new spankly one "blasphemous" and could win a lot of money betting that said prediction would come true.

I wonder what muslims "predicted" for Jews and Christians.

[TASMANIANRED]

Christianity spread out of Israel proper into the surrounding areas as documented in the Gospels to the ephesians, the thessalonians et al. Peter was the primary apostle to Rome and was marytered there.

With time and after much persecution Christianity was accepted as the official religion of the romans by the emperor Constantine (280-237). The Roman empire entended through most of Europe north and almost circumfrentially around the Mediteranian. What is now Turkey was part of the Roman Empire.

Constantine moved the Capitol of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople ( Currently Istanbul). The Council of Nicea which formed to decide the Creed, and the inclusion of the officially accepted books of the New Testamant came from this new Capitol.

As the Roman Empire began breaking up due to the invasion of the Huns, Visigoths et al. Constantinople became the offician home of the church and the government. The period of the dark ages began.

In the west, Roman Catholic church began ascendancy but culture lagged for a number of centuries. In the east Culture flourished but due to a lack of communication , lack of close interaction the paths of the church diverged.

You have probably seen the bearded Greek Orthodox priests, same goes for the Russian orthodox. The Roman Catholic does recognize at least the Greek orthodox or Greek Catholic church as being valid , there are not any really huge doctrinal differences that I am aware of.

The crusades began after a plea for assistance from Constantinople for assistance after assault from the turks and the new militant religion islam. It took quite a while but Constantinople eventually fell. The branches of Eastern Catholicism flourished in Eastern Europe in the balkans, in Russia, . Thus was born the centuries of war in Yugoslavia with the Christians and the moslems, and the constant march of islam against Christian nations.

[Jim Cane]

What God do you believe in?

The Creator. The Grand Architect.

Is there any information available about this God?

All about you. The Universe.

Where would one find such information?

In your heart, mind, and spirit, but this information is obtained primarily through selfless acts of love.