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{"id":9655,"date":"2012-09-25T14:31:09","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T18:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=9655"},"modified":"2012-09-25T14:31:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T18:31:09","slug":"is-jesus-wife-turning-into-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/09\/is-jesus-wife-turning-into-thomas.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Jesus’ Wife Turning Into Thomas?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Discussion<\/a> of the Gospel of Jesus\u2019 Wife<\/a> continues<\/a> full speed ahead<\/a> on scholarly blogs<\/a>, and on list-servs such as that dedicated to the Gospel of Thomas<\/a>. All of this is fantastic to see. \u00a0There have been\u00a0 ongoing discussions<\/a> about open access to scholarly publications. But I think it is also wonderful when not merely the fruits of scholarship, but the entire scholarly enterprise, takes place in public view so that people can (hopefully) gain a greater understanding how scholarship works.<\/p>\n

Mark Goodacre<\/a> has found a possible source in the Gospel of Thomas for the last line of the front side of the papyrus fragment. One one letter is changed, to make the object feminine rather than masculine.<\/p>\n

Andrew Bernhard has added a section on the \u201cGospel of Jesus\u2019 Wife\u201d to his Gospels.net website<\/a>. It includes two draft articles<\/a> by Bernhard, one asking whether the papyrus fragment could have been created entirely from words and phrases in the Gospel of Thomas<\/a>, the other presenting the parallels in a synopsis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have also been several interesting comments from scholars and other interested individuals on scholarly blogs where this is being discussed. A commenter on Mark\u2019s blog showed that most of the mysterious line 6 could have been formed from snippets of Thomas, linking to this image:<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

A commenter on my blog noted<\/a> the reference to Jesus as \u201cmy lord\u201d by Mary Magdalene in John 20. That phrase, it then struck me, is synonymous to ba\u2019ali<\/em>, which even in modern Hebrew means \u201cmy husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Kok<\/a> looks for indications in the New Testament Gospels about Jesus\u2019 marital status. See also Martin Marty\u2019s thoughts<\/a> on the text, and the media discussion of it.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Deirdre Good<\/a> shared a medieval image of Mary Magdalene, apparently referred to as spouse of Jesus.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

And finally, Scott Bailey<\/a> shared the image below, decrying the selective skepticism one often encounters:<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"