A few more thoughts on why it might matter whether Jesus was married. I must admit, for me one of the most useful outcomes of such a discovery (which, alas, I’m afraid will never be made since I doubt he was married) would be that it would show that Jesus was a sexual being, and not some kind of divine automaton walking the dusty paths of Galilee. As Mark Jordan said during our public discussion in Las Vegas – I’m paraphrasing since I can’t remember how he put it exactly, except that it was much wittier than anything I would be able to come up with: Christians need to decide if Jesus had genitals, and if so, whether he used them.
Related to this, in theory at least, discovering that Jesus was married could elevate the status and importance of women within the Christian tradition. They are not outsiders, the way they are often imagined to be when people think that all Jesus cared about were the twelve men disciples. They were central to his life.
At the same time, as was true with celibacy, I’m afraid the reality is that if Jesus were discovered to have been married, many people would not draw the conclusions that I wish they would, about either sexuality or marriage.
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If somehow an actual picture/drawing or painting of the real Jesus came to light (and he clearly would not look anything like how everyone imagines him) it would be interesting how it would impact people of faith.
Yup!
Was it common for ancient biographies not to include a physical description of their subjects?
Once again, thanks a lot.
Yup!
You can see the photo of a real live savior here, Baba Gurinder Singh: http://www.RSSB.org
Oh, I’ve seen pictures of him. He had nordic features, blue eyes, and a medium brown hair. And a nice, full, but neatly trimmed beard. Duh!
The type of biography I enjoy reading are those that do get into the little details of the person’s life. I thought it very interesting in the TV biography of John Adams that the producers chose to show how rotten the teeth of our founding fathers really were.
As far as Jesus is concerned, his biographies were theological and told stories similar to those of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. They are selective biographies. With Jesus, it is the theology and the ministry that each writer wanted to push.
I have truly given up ever hoping to know exactly who Jesus really was.
I don’t give a damn about doctrines, dogmas and creeds, or the craziness of Jesus’ followers now days. Even with the skimpy biographies we have, I do think that enough truth sneaks through to let me say that he was a cool-dude.
He had his priorities straight…more than I can say about most of his followers.
If he was married…the more power to him. I thought he was supposed to be “fully human.” Sex is human. 😀
My father had a small placard on his desk that read, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” Although he wasn’t Christian, I think that pretty much sums it up.
Great reminder. I will remember it!
Bart, please:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/30/utah-kids-in-tears-after-school-seizes-and-tosses-out-40-lunches-over-debt/
I’m too upset right now.
Are these the type of people and children you’re helping?
Really distressing. This whole political climate is, for me….
That’s pretty hard to believe. How does a person like that get a position of authority? Time for a real housecleaning. Their lunches were on the table in front of them, for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t the kids fault!
Bart — send them some of our money, would ya?
Unbelievably, undeniably, cruel.
Forgive me if this has already been asked several times, but where did the origin of Mary Magdalene as an escort/ sex worker come from? Not that there is anything wrong with that. If one were to start a peaceful crusade for the legalization of all sex work among consenting adults, would there be any reason to promote Mary Magdalene?
Great question. I’ll devote a couple of posts to it!
Dr. Ehrman,
Knowing you’ve got an upcoming trade book on Jesus coming out soon, I was thinking… Why have you not written a scholarly treatment (along the lines of Orthodox Corruption, or Forgery-Counter-Forgery, etc…) addressing the historical Jesus? Your other, Apocalyptic Prophet, was also a trade-book.
Ben
Mainly because I don’t have anything to say about the historical Jesus that other scholars don’t already know about!
What you say about people today goes double for those who claimed to know him in the past, but didn’t. I definitely share your sentiments here. 🙂
I wonder what was the ratio of male to female in the population in Jesus time? Is it possible to venture an educated guess as to which aspect of the situation or culture directed the oppression of women the most? Death by childbirth, admiration of a penetrating male, the way people made a living? And/or the belief women are subhuman?
Seems to me they didn’t have a prayer.
Well, I think there were certainly more men than women, but no one really knows the percentages. But as to your other questions: longstanding traditions about the “weaker sex” had a lot to do with it. Women were widely understood as being imperfect men….
Are you saying they thought males were “perfect ” humans?
Yup. And gods were even more perfect than human males!
Your last sentence sums it up quite nicely, and I could not agree more.
“I and every NT scholar in the universe wish we knew more about the historical Jesus…And I’m afraid we’ll never know.”
Lots of born-again Christians have a personal (invisible) friend named Jesus living inside their hearts. If they want to know anything about him, all they have to do is ask…
Sorry this is very late – iv just joined but what is biblical marraige? does it even exist? O.T talks about all kinds of situations of “marraige”. If it doesn’t actually exist where the hell do conservatives get there view from?
There is absolutely no monolithic view of marriage in the Bible!