How did the Jesus Wife hoax fall apart?
St Mary Coptic Orthodox Church (Photo credit: Christopher Chan ) When it comes to Jesus , the gullibility of the religious academy and its media know no bounds. This past Easter , the U.S. media buzzed with excitement over the announcement of an ancient Coptic (Egyptian) papyrus fragment with the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife….’” One more footnote for the story of how a powerful ecclesiastical elite suppressed the diversity of Christian voices and made its own variation “orthodoxy.” Harvard Divinity School has long been a place where “alternative Christianities”—especially Gnosticism —are defended with “fundamentalist” zeal. Karen L. King , Hollis Professor of Divinity , has been a distinguished evangelist for this “other Christianity.” Properly skeptical journalists might have paused before rushing to the keyboards and cameras. Not with this story. I saw headlines with words like “Certain,” “Confident,” and “Proved.” No question about it: the fragment is authentic and de