Keeping up with the Jesus Wife Fragment

In response to my last post, Mike Grondin directed me to his website, where he is keeping a timeline of important events, posts, etc., related to the Jesus Wife Fragment.  You can find this resource here.  Thanks for passing this along!

Two Recent Thoughtful Responses to Jesus Wife Fragment

There has been a lot of recent buzz about the Jesus Wife Fragment again.  So much so that it is difficult to keep track - especially if you are busy teaching and researching other things.  But I think there are two recent thoughtful responses to read.  The first is Caroline Schroeder's interview with Anthony LeDonne (here), in which she discusses why she thinks it is a forgery in the aftermath of Christian Askeland's analysis of the companion fragment from the Lycopolitan Gospel of John.  The second post is one by April DeConick, who has - by and large - remained out of the free-for-all fray until now.  Her post, however, is a series of questions that gets at the methodological assumptions we are making in asserting the fragment a forgery or not.  There is so much out there at the moment that a roundup of posts would be ridiculously large, a catalogue of ships for the Jesus Wife Fragment.  I think, however, that if one reads these two posts and follow some of their links back, one will be by and large caught up in the discussion and know what questions perhaps remain unanswered.

Djesus Uncrossed

Ok.  I realize this is a bit old, but I just saw it for the first time and was rolling laughing.  It mocks both Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained via Jesus' resurrection.  Perhaps some will find it a bit blasphemous, but, if you think about it, it is not far away from how John of Patmos viewed Jesus in Revelation: "the Ro-mans will fear us."

DJesus Uncrossed (Saturday Night Live) from razorgrind on Vimeo.

New Review of My Book (The Sabbath and the Sanctuary) in JTS

I just saw via Brian Small that there is a new review (see here) of my book, The Sabbath and the Sanctuary, published by Nicholas Moore of Keble College, Oxford in the Journal of Theological Studies.  I, unfortunately, am not a subscriber, so I do not know what is praised and what is criticized, but am happy to see that my book continues to attract attention.

So-Called "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" Testing Findings

Harvard Theological Review 107 is entirely dedicated to the so-called "Gospel of Jesus' Wife."  While Karen King's article is the lead one, the more important ones would be those dedicated to the testing of papyrus and ink samples to determine whether their composition is ancient or modern.  One can read a press release here, which also contains links to the HTR 107.

The basic gist of the testing is that the papyrus and ink are consistent with 6th to 9th century CE, which removes them from "ancient" into the borderlands between late antique and early medieval.  I have yet to read the actual articles, but hopefully will have a chance in the next few days and be able to weigh in.

Larry Hurtado has some helpful initial comments based upon a cursory reading of the HTR 107.  I especially appreciate his comment that we should NOT call this the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife," since there is no evidence that this was part of such a broader work, but the "Jesus' Wife Fragment."