The Likely Forger Behind the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife
It has been a while since the so-called Gospel of Jesus’ Wife has been in the headlines. It was originally unveiled by Karen King at Harvard (here), but quickly exposed as a likely forgery. I have also written on the fragment (here and here).
While this document’s status as a forgery is relatively certain, what has been uncertain (until now) is the identity of the forger. Who was the person who created this document and convinced King and others to promote it?
The forger must have had some Coptic abilities. But, the abilities would have had limits–as demonstrated by the mistakes in the Coptic text.
What … Continue reading...
Ten Basic Facts about the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize: #2: “Apocryphal Writings are All Written in the Second Century or Later”
Note: This is the second installment of a new blog series announced here.
In the prior post, we discussed the first basic fact about the New Testament canon, namely that the New Testament writings are the earliest Christian texts we possess. We were careful to make clear that the early date of these books does not make them canonical, but the early date does show that these books were written during a time period when eyewitnesses of Jesus were still alive.
In this current post, we address the issue of “apocryphal” New Testament writings. These are writings that were not included in the New Testament, but have a similar … Continue reading...
What About the Back of the So-Called Gospel of Jesus’s Wife?
There has been a lot of chatter over the last week about the new Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, originally announced here. So much so, that it is quite difficult to keep up with the rapidly changing discussion about this text. Scholars all over the globe have chimed in, most questioning the authenticity of the fragment (see my original assessment here). Most recently, Francis Watson of Durham University has offered two short articles (here and here) which strongly suggest this fragment was a modern fake.
But in all of this discussion, I have noticed that far too little attention has been given to a very important piece … Continue reading...