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.

[Protagoras]

What ya wanna bet the Domminck Crossen shows up on this show?

[FourPeas]

Then why talk about it at all?

That was my first reaction. If it wasn't Christians that the report was likely to offend, it would be hands-off.

[anncoulteriscool]

WWJD...Who Would Jesus Date! LOL!

[Peace will be here soon]

Anything that comes out of a "secret society" is always a good clue it is going to be a bit loony. It never fails.

[VOA]

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.

"Queer Eye For The Holiest Guy"
Criminy, they can't get anything on the three major networks without
it being at least metrosexual.

[TexKat]

Some people just have too much idle time. What is the old saying. An idle mind is the playground of the devil. Or something like that.

[mhking]

Some people just have too much idle time.

Yeah - ABC News...

[FourPeas]

who's NBC susposed to trash?

Undoubtedly they're working on a documentary asserting that Mohammed was a homosexual. (Need I close my tags?)

[cookcounty]

Are they gonna do a special on whether Mohammed was a child abuser? ......I didn't think so. Not enough guts.

[pawdoggie]

"You can't talk about this subject without intriguing people or offending people,"

Projected percentage of people who will be "intrigued" by this show: 10%. Projected percentage of people who will be offended by this show: 70%. Percentage of people who are too jaded to be either intrigued or offended by this show: 20%.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Ok, so CBS is trashing Reagan, ABC is trashing Jesus, who's NBC susposed to trash?

NBC will be bashing Clinton. Wait...NO! They can't do that. That would be blasphemy.

[ChemistCat]

Jesus as celebrity. The media thinks we own the private lives of celebrities. They stalk the talented and beautifully mercilessly, watching for the slightest misstep, the slightest flaws. Their criticism gave Karen Carpenter a fatal illness. Their vigil killed Princess Diana of England. Perhaps the isolation they force celebrities to adopt breeds political extremism. It certainly destroys marriages and lives and puts untenable pressures on people who are "just people" behind the glitz and glam.

Hey, time to step up and do the same to "historical figures," no matter how important or how widely venerated.

The Bible is almost silent about His early life, before His ministry and sacrifice, for a reason. It was His time to be human, to have friends who were just FRIENDS, not followers; time to laugh, love, learn. As a carpenter he surely made many wonderful things with His hands during this time; yet none of those artifacts survive--because they are not what matters. We tend to view the places He walked in awe, and there would probably be whole sects devoted to worshiping a spoon with which He ate. Fortunately, in my opinion anyway, we do not have tangible things leftover from the life of Jesus. We have His WORDS. Those of us who believe in continuing revelation have more of them than others do; He is not dead, nor silenced by His critics!

In His childhood, youth, and early adulthood, He had a life that presumably was full of the best life has to offer the best Man who ever lived--and therefore, when He gave it up to do His Father's will, He was really giving up SOMETHING. We don't own that--we have no right to that, and his friends who recorded the Gospels know that. What we need to know about Him we are told in the testaments of Him. The rest is His business and to speculate on it at all seems evil to me--the ultimate gossip.

If He married on earth it's not our BUSINESS. He was without sin, and went to His death a completely innocent sacrifice for sin. Some bit of gossip, preserved in history though it may be, just doesn't have a bit of RELEVANCE as far as Jesus's importance in our lives today.

I do not believe we ought to pursue such questions.

[Dog Gone]

If Jesus had a wife, it wouldn't have damaged the theology of Christianity in the least.

But since there's no evidence that I know of that suggests that he did, why is this even an issue?

[cookcounty]

CBS applying vain imagination to Reagan. ABC praying for a Jesus scandal. What's NBC up to?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I heard it was blue cheese, too. YOU MUST BE RIGHT!

[mhking]

But since there's no evidence that I know of that suggests that he did, why is this even an issue?

'Cause it's November sweeps.

[Leo Carpathian]

Slava Isusu Chrystu!

Glory to Jesus Christ!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Hey, those were my first words! :)

[mhking]

What's NBC up to?

More Queer Eye...

[stands2reason]

I remember something about this---supposedly her and Jesus' child was ancestor of the Capetian line, among others----interesting, cuz the Capets are some of my ancestors....

It's a load. I am not Jesus' eighty-somethingth great grandkid. Trust me.