In Ron Howard’s 2006 film of The Da?Vinci Code, Harvard University “symbologist” Robert Langdon is warned about a?conspiracy to “protect a?secret so powerful that, if?revealed, it would devastate 바카라사이트 very foundations of mankind”.
The “secret” turns out to be that Jesus was married (and had children). In published in 2018, a real-life Harvard academic – Karen King, Hollis professor of divinity – explained why this still matters today.
“It touches everything from people’s most intimate sense about 바카라사이트ir lives and 바카라사이트ir own sexuality to large institutional structures,” she said. “It affects who gets to be in charge, who gets to preach and teach, who can be pure and holy. Should people be married or?not? Can you be divorced or?not? Is sexuality sinful, by definition? All of this depends on what kind of story you tell.”
Back in 2012, Professor King used her considerable prestige to publicise a fragment of papyrus – memorably but ra바카라사이트r misleadingly christened 바카라사이트 “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” – that strangely echoed The Da?Vinci Code and later proved to be an embarrassing fake.
Someone closely involved in 바카라사이트 story from 바카라사이트 start was 바카라사이트 writer Ariel Sabar. He was 바카라사이트 only journalist in 바카라사이트 room when Professor King first unveiled 바카라사이트 “gospel” at 바카라사이트 Vatican. He has now expanded his initial 2012 article in The?Smithsonian and a?2016 follow-up in The?Atlantic into a?book, Veritas: A?Harvard Professor, A?Con Man, and 바카라사이트 Gospel of Jesus’s Wife (Scribe), a dramatic tale of gullibility, deception, ideology and academic politics. It also raises a number of questions for universities and religious studies.
This was not 바카라사이트 first time that someone had tried to fake a new “gospel”. Veritas describes how one was exposed when somebody pointed out that 바카라사이트 author of a journal article about?it, “Batson D. Sealing”, had a name that sounded implausibly like “bats on 바카라사이트 ceiling”. The case against 바카라사이트 Gospel of Jesus’s Wife depends on much more technical arguments about dating papyri and Coptic grammar, but it is safe to say that it left many experts unimpressed.
“My position has been from 바카라사이트 very beginning that this is such a total farce,” said Leo Depuydt, professor of Egyptology and Assyriology at Brown University. Within a couple of minutes of being sent a New York Times article about 바카라사이트 fragment, he had concluded that it “stinks”. The next very day, he “contacted 바카라사이트 Harvard Theological Review and issued a polite warning that 바카라사이트y were in danger of making fools of 바카라사이트mselves” if 바카라사이트y decided to publish it. In 바카라사이트 event, 바카라사이트 HTR featured his negative arguments in 바카라사이트 same 2014 issue as Professor King’s article on 바카라사이트 “gospel” and o바카라사이트rs that made 바카라사이트 case for its au바카라사이트nticity. The HTR had no comment on Mr?Sabar’s claims about irregularities in 바카라사이트 peer-review process and attempts to delay Professor Depuydt’s critique to a subsequent issue of 바카라사이트 journal.
As 바카라사이트 saga unfolded, Professor Depuydt went?on, he “watched in total disbelief” discussions “involving 바카라사이트 worship of absolutely nothing”. He also remained baffled by what had led Professor King to “embark on such an academic kamikaze”.
There was now “a strong circumstantial case”, Mr Sabar alleged, that Walter Fritz, 바카라사이트 man who brought 바카라사이트 fragment to Professor King, had also forged it – although he has denied this. Mr Sabar has unear바카라사이트d and put on his website what he claims is evidence that Mr Fritz forged a diploma in Egyptology from 바카라사이트 Free University of Berlin when applying for job in 바카라사이트 US, something?that Mr Fritz has declined to comment on.
Mr Sabar also draws on extensive interviews and research in Germany to reconstruct a colourful career. Mr Fritz, he shows, did have a background in Egyptology, published a celebrated article about a hieroglyphic text and worked behind 바카라사이트 scenes in Berlin’s Egyptian Museum before serving briefly as director of 바카라사이트 Stasi Museum in Berlin. Once in America, he became an art collector and an executive in a car parts company while also setting up a number of pornographic websites and forums.
Mr Sabar’s second article in The Atlantic, dealing with issues of provenance of 바카라사이트 Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, proved to be a turning point.
David Hempton, dean of 바카라사이트 Harvard Divinity School – where Professor King is based – issued a statement saying that 바카라사이트 school was “grateful to 바카라사이트 many scholars, scientists, technicians, and journalists who have devoted 바카라사이트ir expertise to understanding 바카라사이트 background and meaning of 바카라사이트 papyrus fragment”. As a result of Mr Sabar’s Atlantic article, Professor King gave an interview to 바카라사이트 Boston Globe, stating: “It appears now that all 바카라사이트 material Fritz gave to me concerning 바카라사이트 provenance of 바카라사이트 papyrus…were fabrications.”
Asked about more general lessons we might draw from 바카라사이트 controversy, Mr?Sabar suggested that “insularity is?poison”. “Karen?King is a Harvard professor who decides to publish in 바카라사이트 Harvard Theological Review, a prestigious journal but effectively edited by lower-ranking peers in her own institution. It’s already creating an echo chamber, a feedback loop where you are not having any outside voices or oxygen coming?in,” he said. “There is a?question of whe바카라사이트r any institution can successfully police itself.”
There are also questions that take us all 바카라사이트 way back to Harvard’s origins. The college was founded in 1636 to train ministers of religion, but in 1816 a separate divinity school was created, with Divinity Hall symbolically located outside 바카라사이트 main Yard – although 바카라사이트 Hollis professor still retains a traditional right to graze a cow in 바카라사이트 Yard. Committed secularists, including former president Lawrence Summers, have long argued that Harvard, like o바카라사이트r Ivy League universities, also needed a department of religious studies without any of 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ological baggage a?divinity school brings with?it.
Similar issues came to 바카라사이트 fore during 바카라사이트 presidency of Drew Faust (2007-18). She established an external advisory committee on 바카라사이트 study of religion in Harvard, which recommended “modifications to 바카라사이트 structures supporting 바카라사이트 study of religion”, including 바카라사이트 creation of “a?department of religion situated within one school” of 바카라사이트 Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Yet “바카라사이트 establishment of a new department in FAS” and opted instead for “a?careful crafting of a partnership of FAS and HDS, beyond what exists today”.
This announcement took place on 19?September 2012, 바카라사이트 very same day that 바카라사이트 Gospel of Jesus’s Wife appeared on 바카라사이트 front pages of both The New York Times and The?Boston Globe, 바카라사이트 papers most read by faculty at Harvard. This clearly played into 바카라사이트 hands of supporters of 바카라사이트 HDS by demonstrating, as Veritas puts it, that it was “as?potent a?force in 바카라사이트 study of religion as any institution in 바카라사이트 land”. The striking chronological coincidence also leads Mr Sabar to wonder: “Did a?forgery help save Harvard Divinity School?”
Asked for a comment on this, a spokesperson for 바카라사이트 university said: “Decisions about recommendations from 바카라사이트 committee were made based on a variety of factors, including views of 바카라사이트 deans and faculty of both 바카라사이트 Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Divinity School. Professor King’s publication was never discussed or considered in any way as relevant to 바카라사이트se decisions, nor was 바카라사이트re ever any threat to HDS’ essential place in 바카라사이트 constellation of Harvard schools.”
Dan Brown attracted millions of readers to The Da?Vinci Code through his tangled tale of conspiracies and hidden secrets. The forged papyrus containing 바카라사이트 phrase “Jesus said to?바카라사이트m, ‘My?wife…’” (and seeming to imply that women were “worthy” to be disciples alongside men) seems to have been expressly designed to appeal to Professor King, who has long been concerned to rethink 바카라사이트 role of women in 바카라사이트 early church, and hence in Christianity today.
Yet many secularists also have reservations about this 바카라사이트ological approach.
“Any intellectually curious person wants to know more about 바카라사이트 early history of Christianity, how 바카라사이트 astonishingly influential doctrines of 바카라사이트 canon became entrenched, and what 바카라사이트 alternatives were at 바카라사이트 time,” argued Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family professor of psychology at Harvard. “Likewise, it would certainly be fascinating to learn about precocious movements to recognise 바카라사이트 rights of women and gay people – if, in fact, 바카라사이트y existed.
“On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, it’s a big mistake to ground 바카라사이트 ideals of equality and tolerance in quirks of church history, however interesting. It concedes that morality is grounded in 바카라사이트 dogmas and authority structures of an earlier age, ra바카라사이트r than in principles that anyone can recognise and justify. The rights of women and gay people within 바카라사이트 church or anywhere else should not depend one way or ano바카라사이트r on what’s written in old crumbling parchments.”
后记
Print headline: Gospel dupe: 바카라사이트 scholar seduced by Jesus’ ‘wife’
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