Gospel of Jesus’ Wife Declared Authentic
The biblioblogs are abuzz this morning with the news that the promised scientific tests on the Gospel of Jesus' Wife fragment indicate that the papyrus and the ink are ancient, not modern. Here are the links to the discussion so far:
Harvard Magazine: "The Jesus' Wife Fragment: The Scientific Evidence"
The New York Times: "Papyrus Referring to Jesus' Wife is More Likely Ancient Than Fake, Scientists Say" by Laurie Goodstein
Harvard Theological Review 107:2 (2014): published online, with the original article by Karen L. King and a response by Leo Depuydt.
Paleojudaica: "GJW Tests Finally In"
Jim Davila at Paleojudaica says "This round goes to those who think that the Gospel of Jesus' Wife fragment is a genuinely ancient literary artifact." I'd prefer to see this as a victory against those who would too quickly dismiss a text as a forgery SIMPLY (or principally) because they dislike its contents.
I’d be cautious, Tony, not only about “declaring” this fragment authentic, but also about aligning the case for forgery with an alleged dislike of its contents. These sorts of claims never get us very far since there will always be those whose case for authenticity can be correlated with an alleged “like” of the contents. Moreover, this idea of “dislike” cuts both ways. The fact that someone might “like” the content might be the very thing that encourages an appropriate scholarly scepticism.
I was hoping you might have more to say on the topic, but perhaps you are reading the other commentaries before stepping out wholeheartedly with your opinion and arguments. I have posted my own on my blog because i think it important to address the parallels with GTh from the standpoint that GJW is authentic versus as proof it is a forgery.
http://jesusmaryjosephbook.com/blog/2014/04/10/jesus-wife-papyrus-proves-the-importance-of-the-gospel-of-thomas/
Ariadne: I’d rather step back from things for now, primarily because it is out of my area of expertise–i.e., I don’t work in Coptic. My interest is in reactions to apocryphal texts, and that’s why I commented at all. The detailed work on this text must be left to the experts.
I belong to Mike Grondin’s GTh Yahoo Group and have for years. The experts are divided on this one. The funny thing that might be of interest to you is that the women ( April DeConick and Karen King) seem to believe it is authentic while the men believe it to be a forgery. I find that an interesting observation on my part.
Howard Webb thinks that his appointment to a next successive World Cup
is “an endorsement of the standard of refereeing in the Leading League ”.
England captain Kevin Sinfield has been at BBC Activity HQ answering
queries in advance of the start of the World Cup on Saturday when his side
perform Australia. The Costa Rican flag is hung
up by Chuck Bednarek before the World Cup Attract event at the Associates Club at Sporting Park, Friday, Dec.
6, 2013, in Kansas Metropolis, Kan. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT) Neymar, 21, has scored in every recreation of the Confederations Cup so far,
ahead of Brazil ‘s conference with Uruguary in the
semi-finals.
The Spanish newspapers belittled the Italian promises,
but when Spain dropped to Korea in the up coming spherical, the Spanish newspapers changed their tune, with
Marca’s headline screaming “Italy was appropriate!” Referee Gamal Ghandour disallowed two lawful
Spanish goals and his linesmen – 1 Ugandan, the other
Trinidadian – judged 1 Spanish assault soon after yet another to
be offside. Moreno returned to a hero’s welcome in Ecuador but was out of the sport within a 12 months right after
obtaining two domestic bans for crooked refereeing.
Ghandour retired soon after Spanish newspapers accused him of
accepting a Hyundai car as a “present” on behalf
of the Korean Football Affiliation.