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{"id":27099,"date":"2014-11-10T11:25:33","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T16:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=27099"},"modified":"2014-11-10T11:25:33","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T16:25:33","slug":"married-with-children-recent-headlines-about-jesus-and-mary-magdalene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/11\/married-with-children-recent-headlines-about-jesus-and-mary-magdalene.html","title":{"rendered":"Married with Children? Recent Headlines About Jesus and Mary Magdalene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a> $\"\"$ Lots of people have been sharing the \u201cnews\u201d<\/a> headlines<\/a> that\u00a0a Syriac text allegedly reveals that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children with her.<\/p>\n

The fact that the book these news articles are designed to promote mentions \u201cdecoding\u201d an ancient text is the first sign that this is dubious. That the \u201cdecoding\u201d will be carried out on a text that has been known for centuries should make you even more suspicious.<\/p>\n

The book in question is The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Ancient Text that Reveals Jesus\u2019 Marriage to Mary the Magdalene<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson $\"\"$ <\/i>. One of its authors should be familiar to you from previous sensationalist claims \u2013 that he had identified the tomb of Jesus with his and his son\u2019s bone box in it, that he has a nail from the crucifixion, and that he has proof of the Exodus.<\/p>\n

If one person claims to keep making monumental discoveries, it is fair to hold them to a very high standard of evidence, since they are either absolute genius-level in their field, or they are offering hype without substance.<\/p>\n

A Washington Post<\/em><\/a> article claims that the text that the book is referring to is Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias Rhetor. In fact, it is that work\u2019s version of the tale of Joseph and Asenath that is the focus. Apparently \u00a0Jacobovici and Wilson are reading that work as\u00a0though it were about Jesus and Mary.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a discovery. It is creative reinterpretation.<\/p>\n

And so as far as I can tell, there\u2019s nothing here to get excited about.<\/p>\n

For more on the texts in question, see Bob Cargill\u2019s post on them<\/a> from last year.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"