Christianity/Yeshua/Jesus

Menu

Was Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus Christ,
married? Does it really matter a whole lot?

Info. on a Coptic text on a fragment of papyrus.

Sponsored link.

Since about the year 200 CE, the leadership of the Christian Church has taught that Yeshua of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) was unmarried and led a celibate life. It was all part of the gradual shift from positive themes about sex, marriage, and family in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) to the negative attitudes toward sex and marriage largely originated by Paul in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).

The Bible mentions that at least one of Yeshua's disciples was married; it did so indirectly. That was Peter, regarded as the first Pope by the Roman Catholic Church. Three of the four canonical Gospels mention that he had a mother-in-law. There is no mention of Yeshua or of any other of his disciples being married. Yet the idea that Jesus was married keeps on surfacing -- as in the book and movie "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.

Most recently, an ancient business-card sized scrap of papyrus has been revealed by Karen L King. It may offer evidence that Yeshua was believed by early Christians to be married. She is the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University -– the oldest endowed academic chair in the United States. The papyrus fragment appears to be a 4th century CE translation of a tiny portion of a 2nd century Greek gospel. It clearly identifies Yeshua as being married. It contains the words:

"Jesus said to them: 'My wife ... she will be able to be my disciple."

Topics covered in this section:

• Was Yeshua married? All sides of the controversy
  
  
• The Coptic papyrus that mention's Yeshua's wife:
  
  
  • Part 1: Description of the papyrus fragment
    
    
  • Part 2: Reactions to the papyrus fragment

Sponsored links

Copyright © 2012 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2012-SEP-25
Author: B.A. Robinson

Sponsored link

Web ReligiousTolerance.org

Page Translator: This page translator works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only After translating, click on the "show original" button at the top of this page to restore page to English.