Posted on 09/18/2012 5:05:46 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’ ”
The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”
The finding was made public in Rome on Tuesday at an international meeting of Coptic scholars by Karen L. King, a historian who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.
The provenance of the papyrus fragment is a mystery, and its owner has asked to remain anonymous. Until Tuesday, Dr. King had shown the fragment to only a small circle of experts in papyrology and Coptic linguistics, who concluded that it is most likely not a forgery. But she and her collaborators say they are eager for more scholars to weigh in and perhaps upend their conclusions.
Even with many questions unsettled, the discovery could reignite the debate over whether Jesus was married, whether Mary Magdalene was his wife and whether he had a female disciple. These debates date to the early centuries of Christianity, scholars say. But they are relevant today, when global Christianity is roiling over the place of women in ministry and the boundaries of marriage.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Jesus wasn’t a priest, he was a carpenter. The normal state of affairs was for a man to be married (and well before 30.) Jesus not being a married man would have been noticed. Being a married man wouldn’t have been that noticeable.
It’s what he taught that matters anyway, not his marital status.
Most Christians would go further than that — IT’S WHO HE IS THAT MATTERS MOST. WHAT HE TAUGHT FLOWS FROM WHO HE IS.
The teachings are the essential thing.
Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...take her please.”
Henny Youngeman was a false profet?
Actually the PERSON of Jesus is the essential thing.
Of course His teachings INCLUDE His Person, but if you divorce Who He is from His teaching, then that makes Him little different from the other great religious leaders.
How so? Without his teachings, he's just another carpenter. It's what he did and what he taught that make him notable.
RE: How so? Without his teachings, he’s just another carpenter.
I gather you are not a Christian. If he were simply a teacher, then he’s no different from any other teacher out there who ever taught people to observe the golden rule.
The fact that HE IS GOD makes His teaching authoritative. Other than that, we have no reason to observe all of His teachings.
Why not listen to Mohammad instead?
The wisdom of CS Lewis escapes the intellectuals: Jesus could not make the claims He made and not be Whom He claimed to be, unless He would be insane on par with a man who claimed to be a poached egg; Jesus is Whom He claimed to be or He is nothing more than insane, not wise.
I might add that if He came out of that tomb, then He has my loaylty to His Person as He claimed ... and it is not difficult to show that He indeed came out of that tomb and is Alive forever more. [ the video is ready for viewing down page http://www.kenesty.com/share/view/2814/the-voice-of-faith-lecture-entitled-the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-1/]
HE IS GOD
All there was "in the beginning" was God. God had nothing out of which to create all this than God. So what else is there?If your conception of God is merely a God "out there", then I think your God is too small.
Is God Infinite or not? If not, what are the limits of (and/or on) God?
HE IS GOD
All there was "in the beginning" was God. God had nothing out of which to create all this than God. So what else is there? If your conception of God is merely a God "out there", then I think your God is too small.
Is God Infinite or not? If not, what are the limits of (and/or on) God?
RE: So no other teacher has any wisdom that is of value?
Of course all other teachers have wisdom of value. The problem with Jesus is on His own identity, HE EQUATES HIMSELF WITH GOD.
He called Himself the great I AM, the same words God used in the Old Testament to Moses in the burning bush.
If some modern ethical teacher called himself God, I highly doubt if anyone would take him seriously.
So, you cannot bifurcate Jesus because on His identity alone, He insists that you either accept Him for who he claims to be or not. He is either Liar, Lunatic or Lord of all.
RE: If your conception of God is merely a God “out there”, then I think your God is too small.
When did I say that God is simply a God out there? The fact that I accept Jesus’ claims to divinity in fact shows that this God that I believe in is not just “out there”. He cares for humanity such that He condescended to be one of us to show us the way to live and more importantly to DIE for us and save us from our sins.
This shows that God is not small. He is big and infinite. He is big enough to create and rule the mighty universe, yet loving enough to care for His creatures.
If God is infinite, as we both agree, then what is the limit of God? Where is God not?
I wish a finite being like me could answer that... but that is beyond my paygrade.
It’s simple logic. If God is infinite, then God is everywhere. If God is everywhere, everywhen, Omnipotent, Ominiscient, Omnipresent, if there is no limit on God, if god was all that there was “in the beginning” and had to make this all out of God, then who or what can there be that is not the form, body, expression, emanation of God, the conscious, deliberate, intentional expression of God?
Frankly, the question of whether Jesus was married is interesting, but not especially relevant.
Well, lots of people are interested in this. Here’s the latest thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2937810/posts
Does anyone know if Karen King is part Cherokee? ;-)
Cheers!
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