Update on the "Jesus' Wife" Controversy:

Update on the “Jesus’ Wife” Controversy:

It is looking more and more likely that the fragment is a fake. From Craig A. Evans:

Is the Coptic papyrus, in which Jesus speaks of his “wife,” a fake? Probably. We are far from a “consensus,” but one scholar after another and one Coptologist after another has weighed in pointing out serious problems with the paleography, the syntax, and the very troubling fact that almost all of the text has been extracted from the Gospel of Thomas (principally from logia 30, 101, and 114). I suspect the papyrus itself is probably quite old, perhaps fourth or fifth century, but the oddly written (or painted) letters on the recto side are probably modern and probably reflect recent interest in Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The decision of the editors of Harvard Theological Review not to publish Karen King’s paper is very wise. Perhaps we will eventually learn more about who actually produced this text.

(Source). Read a summary of the situation, written for non-specialists, here, from Francis Watson of Durham University. Another essay from Dr. Watson here, on Mark Goodacre’s site.

[part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4]