Academia, Religion

A Marriage Made In Heaven? Ancient Papyrus Fragment May Refer To Jesus’ Wife

Now here’s a question. What do you get for the groom who has everything? Apparently disciples of Jesus may have faced that dilemma after analysis of a centuries-old papyrus fragment refers to the “wife” of Jesus — possibly Mary Magdalene. The fragment, written in Coptic, states “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …”

Harvard Divinity School Professor Karen King discussed the finding in the January edition of Harvard Theological Review. She stressed that the fragment does not conclusively show Jesus was married.

The bible speaks of Jesus cleansing Mary Magdalene of “seven demons” but not then marrying her. She has often been cited as the only female disciple of Jesus. Also missing are other common matrimonial clues like biblical jokes about the “old ball and chain” back home or going out with for a guys night out. However, one can easily imagine a band playing Proud Mary” by John Fogerty with the disciples singing alone:

Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Mary keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river


Source: CNN

61 thoughts on “A Marriage Made In Heaven? Ancient Papyrus Fragment May Refer To Jesus’ Wife”

  1. You mean that the bible might not contain the absolute, error-free history of the world? OMG! LOL

    How otherwise intelligent people (and of course the endlessly ignorant and gullible too) can give themselves over to these myths is forever beyond me.

  2. As a Catholic I declare a fatwah on the satanic professor Turley!! [This is a joke for the humorless out there].

  3. Mike S, I think that was James, Jesus’ brother. HE was supposed to take over and lead, after Jesus’ death; political stuff prevented that. He would have followed Jesus’ teachings pretty closely, probably. Oh well, we know how that goes…

  4. OK, Bloggers who know more about this, come in and correct me, but this is what I know.

    1 – Jesus was born under a “cloud” in Hebrew law in that he was reportedly conceived when Mary was betrothed to Joseph but Joseph was not the father of her baby. The law applicable to children born under such circumstances was called, in Hebrew, “Mumzeruth.”

    2 – This was not the same as “b*stardy” and did not involve any civil disabilities to the child EXCEPT that the child was never permitted to MARRY. The reason was that since the father was technically unknown, the child’s marriage MIGHT be accidentally incestuous.

    3 – Mumzerim COULD have sex (as long as it was not adulterous) etc., just NOT marry, and obviously any children they begat would also be Mumzerim, thus not able to marry.

    4 – It was not legal to discriminate in any other way against a Mumzer. There was a HUGE flap, however, because Jesus was KNOWN to be among the best scholars in the land, if not THE finest scholar, yet he was denied a seat on the Sanhedrin. It was commonly known and acknowledged that this was just flat out discrimination, and underlay a lot of the tension between Jesus and the authorities.

    5 – There was lots of this and that about John the Baptist and even brother James and I never could follow it, but essentially, Jesus probably had a common-law wife but no children. It would seem very likely that a woman who had been divorced by someone for being barren might have ended up in a nice, committed relationship with Jesus. Remember: they opposed ADULTERY but not extramarital sex, so long as neither partner was otherwise married and so forth. It was much more about property rights than sexual jealousy, at that point in time, I think.

    Caveat: I haven’t done the research and a lot of this is my guesswork combined with stuff I have been TOLD about what the historical texts (both religious and other) say. I never personally read them.

  5. OS,

    Good points you raised from scripture. Also too, who was the “James the Just” leader of Jesus followers, who Paul had his falling out with?

  9. Professor, I rely on you NOT to peddle more ahistorical nonsense without at least some qualifiers. The document, which postdates Jesus’s death by a few centuries, does not refer to Jesus’ wife. And the professor who made the discovery has qualified her discovery far more than your statement that she “stressed that the fragment does not conclusively show Jesus was married.” You are a lawyer and scholar — it would behoove you to be more careful with your words.

  10. I don’t care either way but I wonder if Coptic might be a langage where the words wife and woman are more loosely defined or interchangeable.

  11. “The fragment, written in Coptic, . . . .”

    Damn! Those Coptics are on a blasphemous roll lately. The Budda had better watch out.

  12. Mespo:

    “Which brings to mind the inevitable questions:”

    “Did Jesus have to walk the dog?”

    Yes, he and his dog Skippy took long walks across the Sea of Galilee.

    “How about take out the trash?”

    Of course he did; he was perfect so he took out the trash; cut the lawn; did the dishes and laundry; rubbed Mary’s feet; avoided the bars and late night poker games with his disciples and most importantly, he was a good listener.

  13. ” And his mother Mary certainly did not remain a virgin all her life, because the Bible references at least one sibling, James. ”

    It does? Where does it say that?

  14. The bible speaks about the Church being Christ’s wife. This is a predominant theme throughout the entire bible. Christ is routinely referred to as the bridegroom. Nothing to see here.

  15. I may, once again, don my armor of faith … it’s a cool outfit…. and join the crazies who will be coming out of the woodwork.

  18. Ever since I was old enough to understand the notion of sex and marriage, I have wondered about that. Even asked about it in Sunday school and got slapped down for being inappropriate. It always seemed to me that if the Almighty had sent a part of Himself to earth to experience being human, and to even die after being tortured, it only made sense to me that this God-man should experience ALL that human life had to offer, marriage and sex being an integral part of that. And his mother Mary certainly did not remain a virgin all her life, because the Bible references at least one sibling, James.

    It also never made sense to me those segments of Christianity that disavow wine. I really don’t think that the grape juice served at many churches at communion would have passed muster at either the wedding which was the scene of the First Miracle, or the Last Supper. I have an idea that Jesus also knew what it was like to get a bit of a buzz. Not likely he would be pulled over on his donkey for DUI.

  20. You mean….. That possibly so called Christianity may be based on a fallacy….. Nah…… Couldn’t be….

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