Early Christianity
The Authenticity of the Gospel of Judas
Katherine Weber of the Christian Post asked me some questions this week about the recent revelation that the Gospel of Judas had been authenticated by a number of means. See http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/08/17656331-scholars-reveal-how-they-scrambled-to-authenticate-gospel-of-judas for the news report, and http://www.christianpost.com/news/gospel-of-judas-free-of-forgeries-but-still-fake-heretical-says-new-testament-scholar-93781/ for Katherine’s article (published 11 April 2013). Below are her questions and my responses. This will also be published in the Christian […]
A New New Testament: Are You Serious?
Just released from the giant publishing firm, Houghton Miflin Harcourt: A New New Testament: A Bible for the 21st Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts, edited by Hal Taussig. The advertisement from HMH distributed widely via email last week was not shy in its claims for the 600-page volume. The subject line read, “It […]
Five More Myths about Bible Translations and the Transmission of the Text
There’s an old Italian proverb that warns translators about jumping in to the task: “Traduttori? Traditori!” Translation: “Translators? Traitors!” The English proverb, “Something’s always lost in the translation,” is clearly illustrated in this instance. In Italian the two words are virtually identical, both in spelling and pronunciation. They thus involve a play on words. But […]
See-Saw on HTR’s publishing of Prof King’s article
Here’s the latest news; Brian LePort seems to have a good bead on things: http://nearemmaus.com/2012/09/26/the-harvard-theological-journal-the-gospel-of-jesus-wife-and-karen-l-kings-rejected-or-not-rejected-paper/
HTR not rejecting the Jesus’ Wife fragment now?
It seems like the we’re witnessing a see-saw battle concerning the authenticity of this fragment as well as whether it’s going to be published in Harvard Theological Review. After I posted the news which I received from Dr. Craig Evans that HTR was not going to publish the fragment because it had been judged to […]
Jesus’ Wife fragment judged a fake
“News flash: Harvard Theological Review has decided not to publish Karen King¹s paper on the Coptic papyrus fragment on the grounds that the fragment is probably a fake.” This from an email Dr. Craig Evans, the Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia University and Divinity College, sent to me earlier today. He said […]
Reality Check: The “Jesus’ Wife” Coptic Fragment
21 September 2012 There has been an unbelievable torrent of hoopla over a newly discovered—or rather, recently announced—Coptic fragment that speaks of Jesus as being married. The news of this small, business-card-sized fragment has gone mainstream, so much so that even David Letterman got into the act. On Thursday evening (20 September), just a couple […]
New Coptic Fragment Says Jesus was Married
Reported by the New York Times, Professor Karen King of Harvard University has unveiled a fourth-century Sahidic Coptic fragment in which Jesus speaks of “my wife”: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/us/historian-says-piece-of-papyrus-refers-to-jesus-wife.html?_r=2. Let the debates begin!
Ignatius on the Hatred of Christians
A brief note on Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch in the early second century, wrote seven letters to churches as he was traveling as a prisoner to Rome. He was looking forward to being torn apart by wild beasts before the emperor. At one point he makes the profound declaration, “Christianity is greatest when it […]
“No Pain, No Gain”–An Ancient Idiom?
As I was reading in Ignatius’s letters today, I came across this idiom: πάντων τὰς νόσους βάσταζε, ὡς τέλειος ἀθλητής· ὅπου πλείων κόπος, πολὺ κέρδος (Ignatius to Polycarp, 1.3). Roughly translated, “bear the diseases of all, as a perfect athlete. Where there is great labor, there is great gain.” J. B. Lightfoot, in his magnificent […]
