Analysis Archives - Page 9 of 29

Articles on Jesus’ Wife

I’ve been updating the previous post with links to good articles about the subject, including questions of the discovery’s authenticity, genre, and significance. The “blockbuster” documentary airs in 10 days and that rightly concerns everyone not making money off of it. There also is some movement afoot to use this discovery to support the spurious claims made by “Jesus Tomb” proponents who allege that Jesus had a wife and family. Here’s the updated list:

Darrell L. Bock: Quick Thoughts on the New Jesus Wife Text

Michael S. Heiser: Ancient Coptic Fragment Has Jesus Alluding to His Wife

Mark D. Roberts: Was Jesus Married? A Careful Look at the Real Evidence.

James Davila: A Coptic gospel that mentions Jesus’ wife?

Associated Press: Harvard Claim of Jesus’ Wife Papyrus Scrutinized

*Simon Gathercole: Did Jesus have a wife?

Michael Kruger: Apocryphal Gospels and the Mainstream Media

Luke Chandler: Ancient papyrus: Was Jesus Married? Don’t overlook this perspective…

David Bivin: Was Jesus a Confirmed Bachelor?

Thomas L. McDonald: The Gnostic Noise Machine and the “Wife” of Jesus

Preston Sprinkle: Did Jesus Have a Wife?

*Mark Goodacre: The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife: The Story is Moving Fast!

Francis Watson: The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife: How a fake Gospel-Fragment was composed

Ross Douthat: The Jesus Conspiracy

Daniel B. Wallace: Reality Check: The “Jesus’ Wife” Coptic Fragment

Rob Bowman: Karen King’s Jesus Wife Papyrus

Francis Watson: How a fake Gospel-Fragment was composed: Introduction and Summary

AP: Harvard journal: Jesus ‘wife’ papyrus unverified

Henry B. Smith, Jr.: Brief Reflections on the So-Called “Jesus Wife” Fragment

Tagged Analysis

Somebody Once Believed Jesus Had a Wife

The problem with today’s headline story is not the discovery of an ancient document that suggests that someone once believed that Jesus had a wife. There were many false and unbiblical teachings in ancient times, just as there are today. The problem is the media can very easily make a minor story into something sensational that appears to threaten historic Christianity.

The lead paragraph of the USA Today article says it this way:

A papyrus fragment from the fourth century contains a phrase in which Jesus refers to “My wife,” which a U.S. scholar says is the first evidence supporting the belief among early Christians that he was married.

That’s the version that most will read. Contrast that with first paragraph of the academic paper on which the story is based (bold font mine):

Published here for the first time is a fragment of a fourth-century CE codex in Coptic containing a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples in which Jesus speaks of “my wife.” This is the only extant ancient text which explicitly portrays Jesus as referring to a wife. It does not, however, provide evidence that the historical Jesus was married, given the late date of the fragment and the probable date of original composition only in the second half of the second century. Nevertheless, if the second century date of composition is correct, the fragment does provide direct evidence that claims about Jesus’s marital status first arose over a century after the death of Jesus in the context of intra-Christian controversies over sexuality, marriage, and discipleship. Just as Clement of Alexandria (d. ca 215 C.E.) described some Christians who insisted Jesus was not married, this fragment suggests that other Christians of that period were claiming that he was married.

A few observations:

1. We have known for a very long time that some people around the year 200 argued that Jesus had a wife.

2. A newly discovered but poorly preserved fragment may suggest that some people around the year 200 argued that Jesus had a wife.

3. Ancient texts that showed that some people believed that Jesus had a wife were non-existent until the discovery of this fragment.

4. There were many “Christian” groups in the first few centuries that had bizarre beliefs that contradicted Scripture.

5. The early church was in wide agreement that Jesus did not have a wife.

6. No first-century document ever mentions or hints at the possibility that Jesus had a wife.

7. Jesus understood his identity and his atoning death from the beginning of his earthly ministry, and he knew that marriage was not part of his mission.

Karen L. King, the author of the academic paper, gives a good introduction to the discovery on this video produced by Harvard Divinity School.

As I learn of good articles on the subject, I will add them below.

Darrell Bock: Quick Thoughts on the New Jesus Wife Text

Michael Heiser: Ancient Coptic Fragment Has Jesus Alluding to His Wife

Mark D. Roberts: Was Jesus Married? A Careful Look at the Real Evidence.

James Davila: A Coptic gospel that mentions Jesus’ wife?

Associated Press: Harvard Claim of Jesus’ Wife Papyrus Scrutinized

*Simon Gathercole: Did Jesus have a wife?

Michael Kruger: Apocryphal Gospels and the Mainstream Media

Luke Chandler: Ancient papyrus: Was Jesus Married? Don’t overlook this perspective…

David Bivin: Was Jesus a Confirmed Bachelor?

Thomas L. McDonald: The Gnostic Noise Machine and the “Wife” of Jesus

Preston Sprinkle: Did Jesus Have a Wife?

*Mark Goodacre: The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife: The Story is Moving Fast!

Francis Watson: The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife: How a fake Gospel-Fragment was composed

Tagged Analysis

The Location of the Royal Palace in Jerusalem

Where was the royal palace in Jerusalem during the time of the monarchy? Most scholars have assumed that it was located to the south of Solomon’s temple, between the ancient city and the summit of Mount Moriah. In a 2009 article, David Ussishkin suggests that the palace was built to the north of the temple for the following reasons:

1. It is more logical that the king would desire to isolate his royal compound from the population so that everyone traveling from the city to the temple would not pass by it.

2. In a number of ancient cities, the palace was built at the edge of the acropolis. This was true at the Hittite capital of Hattusha, the Late Bronze cities of Ugarit and Megiddo, as well as a nymber of Assyrian cities including Calah, Nineveh, and Dur-Sharrukin.

Ussishkin notes some difficulties with his hypothesis:

1. Some biblical texts indicate that the palace was south of the temple (Neh 3:25-29; 12:37).

2. The royal acropolis was located in the center of some cities, including Samaria and Zincirli-Sam’al.

I would also question the premise that Solomon would desire to be isolated from the people. God’s intention for Israel’s king was that he would represent the nation to God and vice versa (Deut 17:14-20; 1 Kgs 3:7-10; Ps 72:1-4). The first story of Solomon’s kingship is his adjudication of the case of the dead infant (1 Kgs 3:16-29). The isolation that may have been desired by other kings of the world may not have been appropriate for the king in Jerusalem.

Absent archaeological investigation of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, it is impossible to confirm the location of the home of Judah’s kings.

Ussishkin’s proposal is a small portion of his article “The Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the First Temple Period: An Archaeologist’s View,” found on pages 473-83 of Exploring the Longue Durée: Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager, ed. J. David Schloen. This thick book is loaded with many articles of interest to students of biblical archaeology.

The Temple Mount from the north. Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, volume 3.

Tagged Analysis, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Critiques of the Work of Robert Cornuke

I appreciate the careful work that Gordon Franz has done over the past several decades in exposing shoddy scholarship by those who make sensational claims in support of the Bible’s accuracy. Ron Wyatt was the long-time leader of fraudulent archaeology until his death in 1999. One of those who picked up the baton was Robert Cornuke, a one-time policeman who now alleges to have discovered the location of Mount Sinai, the ark of the covenant, Noah’s ark, and Paul’s shipwrecked vessel on Malta. Indeed, he discovers more on a two-week summer trip than any trained archaeologist discovers in a lifetime! What accounts for his popularity among evangelical Christians? Two things: he tells them what they want to hear in the way they want to hear it. Bible believers want to hear of great discoveries that support their faith, and if you package that in a charismatic presentation or a well-written paperback, you need not bother yourself with truth. Gordon Franz is serving the church by investigating Cornuke’s claims and writing critiques to help believers navigate these waters. Franz has recently created a convenient entry point for the articles he has written on Cornuke’s work over the years. Some of those articles include: Mount Sinai is NOT at Jebel al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia Part 1 Yahweh Inscription Discovered at Mount Sinai! Does “The Lost Shipwreck of Paul” Hold Water? Was the Ark of the Covenant Taken to Ethiopia? The full list is here. You may want to bookmark this link for future reference. For critiques of other dubious “archaeology,” see Franz’s “Cracked Pot Archaeology” section.

Tagged Analysis, Pseudo-Archaeology

More Top Stories of 2012

Top Stories of 2012

Articles on Jesus’ Wife

Somebody Once Believed Jesus Had a Wife

The Location of the Royal Palace in Jerusalem

Critiques of the Work of Robert Cornuke