Pastors around the nation are bracing for questions from curious congregants, after a Harvard professor claimed a fragment of text from the fourth century suggests Jesus may have been married.
Karen King, a professor of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School, announced Tuesday that the tiny scrap of papyrus contains dialogue that includes the words "Jesus said to them, 'My wife..'"
The text, written in Coptic and likely translated from a second-century Greek text, was produced by an unknown author roughly 300 years after Jesus' death. It is the "only extant ancient text which explicitly portrays Jesus as referring to a wife," according to King.
While the authenticity and truth behind the document is being debated, clergy will likely be confronted with questions from parishioners about the finding, which runs at odds with Christian tradition maintaining Jesus was unmarried. The finding also stirs up debate on the role of women in the church and celibacy among priests.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops told FoxNews.com Thursday that the conference "has not issued any guidance on this development." Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi has refused to question King's scholarship, although he said in an interview with AFP that "we do not really know where this little scrap of parchment came from."
"This does not change anything in the position of the church, which rests on an enormous tradition, which is very clear and unanimous," Lombardi said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/21/pastors-brace-for-questions-on-jesus-marital-status-after-newly-discovered/?test=latestnews#ixzz2797SdhHN
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