The DaVinci Code Revisited?

photo from the Harvard Gazette

          So, it looks like CNN, The Huffington Post and The New York Times are broadcasting, with a wink in their eye, that there's evidence that Jesus might have been married, despite a paragraph from the very source of the headline-grabber, Harvard Divinity School prof Karen King, who writes (with AnneMarie Luijendijk):

          "Does this fragment constitute evidence that Jesus was married? In our opinion, the late date of the Coptic papyrus (c. fourth century), and even of the possible date of composition in the second half of the second century, argues against its value as evidence for the life of the historical Jesus."

          This story (minus that paragraph) largely hit the news yesterday, and, no doubt, there will be some growing apologetic response. Mark Roberts, a pastor and former teaching fellow at Harvard, posts helpful thoughts here. 

          While Dr. Karen King (as Roberts argues) is a scholar and not "some huckster who is seeking to make a name for herself from some academically-suspect charade," organizations like the Huffington Post (who I've been following on Twitter) will exaggerate implications before any finding can interpreted by scholarly circles. Unlike Dr. Karen King, they (and perhaps the cynical portion of their readers) aren't interested in responsible, balanced and wholly-informed discussions, rather eye-catching reading. Case in point: when there's any update on "The Gospel of Jesus's Wife" that further disqualifies the implications and conclusions that The Huffington Post and the New York Times already jumped to, we won't likely hear it from them. Sorry to get on the soapbox, but this is just an example of a downside to a culture of mass media I learned about in grad school years ago.

          UPDATE: A colleague posted another perspective of biblical literacy on the issue from The Atlantic.
          UPDATE 2: As I typed this blog, the Huffington Post posted an update in which several scholars express valid and extreme doubt that the authenticity of this fragment of papyrus could remotely live up to any of its perceived implications.
          UPDATE 3: Dr. Mark Roberts, earlier mentioned in this blog, writes again.
          UPDATE 4: Dr. Michael Kruger, of Reformed Theological Seminary, gives his take on The Gospel Coalition.