{"id":25276,"date":"2014-04-10T20:37:56","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T01:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=25276"},"modified":"2016-11-10T22:02:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T04:02:32","slug":"this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, not quite. Laurie Goodstein\u2019s carefully-written article in the New York Times<\/em>, \u201cPapyrus Referring to Jesus\u2019 Wife is More Likely Ancient Than Fake, Scientists Say<\/a>,\u201d certainly has no sensationalism of that sort.<\/p>\n

The news here is that the so-called \u201cGospel of Jesus\u2019s Wife\u201d papyrus fragment has been analyzed scientifically and found to resemble other papyri from the fourth to eight centuries.<\/p>\n

The surest conclusion we can probably draw from all this is that it must be getting close to Easter: time for the usual run of stories either debunking something Christians allegedly believe or shoring up something at odds with their beliefs.<\/p>\n

Goodstein is careful to consider all sides, including the views of a professor of Egyptology at Brown University who thinks it\u2019s a fake \u201cripe for a Monty Python sketch.\u201d But his view is a minority view among scholars, it seems. The evidence\u00a0says that this ancient fragment which has the line, \u201cJesus said to them, \u2018My wife\u2026\u2019\u201d is for real.<\/p>\n

Goodstein gets it right: \u201cThe test results do not prove that Jesus had a wife, \u2026 only that the fragment is more likely a snippet from an ancient manuscript than a fake.\u201d Karen King, the Harvard Divinity School historian who caused the uproar in 2012 by unveiling the \u201cGospel of Jesus\u2019s Wife,\u201d is also careful not to draw any unwarranted conclusions.<\/p>\n

Of course authentic ancient manuscripts witness to all kinds of things in the wildly diverse early Church, from groups who opposed marriage and demanded celibacy of all Christians, to groups who didn\u2019t baptize but instead washed feet, to groups who used water instead of wine for the Lord\u2019s Supper, to this group that apparently wanted to re-write history, several centuries later, to give Jesus \u2013 contrary to every other bit of written evidence \u2013a wife.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s see whether the general public follows the New York Times\u2019 lead and gets that nuancing right. Or whether the story gets out that JESUS HAD A WIFE!!<\/p>\n

And then I suppose the story will be that Priests Should Be Able To Be Married!! Meaning we could surely draw this conclusion: a church without celibate priests and religious would hold a lot less interest for the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

awr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York Times’<\/I> Laurie Goodstein is careful to consider all sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!! - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!! - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New York Times' Laurie Goodstein is careful to consider all sides.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-11T01:37:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-11T04:02:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a\"},\"headline\":\"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!!\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-11T01:37:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-11T04:02:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":381,\"commentCount\":17,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Announcements\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/\",\"name\":\"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!! - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-11T01:37:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-11T04:02:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/10\\\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit & Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a\",\"name\":\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Anthony Ruff, OSB\"},\"description\":\"Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, is a monk of St. John's Abbey. He teaches liturgy, liturgical music, and Gregorian chant at St. John's University School of Theology-Seminary. He is widely published and frequently presents across the country on liturgy and music. He is the author of Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations, and of Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter. He does priestly ministry at the neighboring community of Benedictine sisters in St. Joseph.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/aruff\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!! - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!! - Home","og_description":"New York Times' Laurie Goodstein is careful to consider all sides.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2014-04-11T01:37:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-11T04:02:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":411,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/"},"author":{"name":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a"},"headline":"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!!","datePublished":"2014-04-11T01:37:56+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-11T04:02:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/"},"wordCount":381,"commentCount":17,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Announcements"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/","name":"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!! - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-11T01:37:56+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-11T04:02:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/10\/this-just-in-jesus-had-a-wife\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Just In: Jesus Had a Wife!!!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit & Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1f253be22c50796444dc3d93f75cb50a","name":"Anthony Ruff, OSB","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Resize-Anthony-Ruff-1-96x96.jpg","caption":"Anthony Ruff, OSB"},"description":"Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB, is a monk of St. John's Abbey. He teaches liturgy, liturgical music, and Gregorian chant at St. John's University School of Theology-Seminary. He is widely published and frequently presents across the country on liturgy and music. He is the author of Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations, and of Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter. He does priestly ministry at the neighboring community of Benedictine sisters in St. Joseph.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/aruff\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25279,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25276\/revisions\/25279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}