Antiquitopia

I had a student who raised a question when studying the Gospel of Judas—whether or not Judas had any relation to Secret Mark.   The reason is that they both turn a distinctive phrase:   “mystery/mysteries of the kingdom.”   I appreciated the thought, and I had no answer at the moment, except that most scholars shy away from using Secret Mark in their reconstructions these days, given all of the speculation about it possibly being a modern forgery perpetrated by its discoverer, Morton Smith.   I, nonetheless, had an itch in the back of my head to look back into the synoptic Gospels—if for no other reason than Secret Mark’s vocabulary and phrasing is rarely, if ever, distinctive (indeed, one of the arguments for it being forged is that it overuses typical vocabulary of Mark).   So, I turned to the synoptics, and, interestingly, they rarely use the phrase.   “Mystery” and “Mysteries” may show up, and “kingdom” is all over the place, but ...

Today in my Gospels class we were reading the Proto-Gospel of James, which has a very fascinating depiction of time: But I, Joseph, was walking, and I was not walking.  I looked up into the air, and I saw that it was greatly disturbed.  I looked up to the vault of the sky, and I saw it standing still; and the birds of the sky were at rest.  I looked back to the earth and saw a bowl laid out for some workers who were reclining to eat.  Their hands were in the bowl, but those who were chewing were not chewing; and those who were taking something from the bowl were not lifting it up; and those who were bringing their hands to their mouths were not bringing them to their mouths.  Everyone was looking up.  And I saw a clock of sheep being herded, but they were standing still.  And the shepherd raised his hand to strike them, but his hand remained in the air.  I looked down at the torrential stream, and I saw some goats whose mouths were over the wate...

The Gospel of Judas is back in the news with reports of how comparative ink analyses between Judas and more quotidian late-antique Egyptian documents (contracts, etc.) were used to help authenticate and date the Gospel.  By authenticate, I mean that it is an ancient document rather than a modern forgery, and, therefore, tells us important new information about ancient Christianity.  Looks like the ink comes from the third century CE.

I want to proceed with some preliminary notes.  They are basic, foundational, but lead to a working hypothesis of this fragment that, I hope, will help lead to a particular social context.   First, here is a reiteration of my translation from my previous post : Line 1:  ...my mother gave me li[fe]... Line 2:  ...the disciples said to Jesus... Line 3:  ...deny.  Mary is worthy of it.... Line 4:  ..........Jesus said to them, "My wife.... Line 5:  ....... she will be my disciple and.... Line 6:  ...Let wicked people.... Line 7:  ...I dwell with her because... Line 8:  .....................an image................ The first note is literary genre (or at least micro-genre).  This is a dialogue form.  In line 2, we have the introductory formula for speech--here, the disciples' speech to Jesus.  The fourth line, then, shows Jesus' response.  This fragment, therefore, presents us with a glimpse of a dialogue ...

Image of Papyrus: (Photo:  Papyrus Fragment; Recto; Karen King 2012) Coptic Transcription: (Key:  {reconstruction from corrupt letter}; [reconstruction from missing letters]); Additional Note:  I have been notified that not everyone can read the transcription--that the letters appear as boxes instead of letters.  I am not sure why this is happening since I used a unicode based font, but I'll see what I can do. Line 1:  ⲛⲁ]ⲉⲓⲁⲛⲧⲁⲙⲁⲁⲩⲁⲥϯⲛⲁⲉⲓⲡ{ⲱ}[ⲛϩ Line 2:  ]{ⲥ}ⲡⲉϫⲉ︦ⲙⲙⲁⲑⲏⲧⲏⲥ︦ⲛ︦ⲓⲥϫⲉ{ⲥ}[ Line 3:  ] ̣ ⲁⲣⲛⲁⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁⲙ︦ⲙⲡϣⲁ︦ⲙⲙⲟⲥⲁ[ Line 4:  ] ̣  ̣  ̣  ̣  ̣ ⲡⲉϫⲉ︦ⲓⲥⲛⲁⲩⲧⲁϩⲓⲙⲉⲙ{︦ⲛ} Line 5:  ] ̣  ̣  ̣  ⲥⲛⲁϣ︦ⲣⲙⲁⲑⲏⲧⲏⲥⲛⲁⲉⲓⲁⲩⲱ[ Line 6:  ]{ⲓ}ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲣⲱⲙⲉⲉⲑⲟⲟⲩϣⲁϥⲉⲛⲉ[ Line 7:  ] ̣ ⲁⲛⲟⲕϯϣⲟⲟⲡⲛⲙⲙⲁⲥⲉⲧⲃⲉ{ⲃ}[ Line 8:                 ]ⲟⲩϩⲓⲕⲟⲛ[ The verso has far less that is legible, but notably has the word ⲧⲁⲙⲁⲁⲩ in the first line...

Breaking News:  At the 10th International Congress of Coptic Studies (meets every four years), Karen King has revealed the possible existence of a new gospel, of which only a fragment (in Coptic) survives, that says, "...Jesus said to them, My wife..."  Initial testing has suggested it is, indeed, ancient.  See discussion here , which contains a further link to King's paper. April DeConick has a short comment on it here .  See more here and here , leading to other sites. DeConick has a fuller translation of the fragment with discussion here .

I just received a copy of Bart Ehrman and Zlatko Plese's collection of apocryphal gospels that you can purchase here . I am looking forward to flipping through the book. April DeConick has written a short review here .