History: The Papyrus Controversy and if Jesus had a wife

Ever since I read The Da Vinci Code, I have been a great fan of Dan Brown. His revelations based on some really serious research impressed me hugely. One of the major pointers which came out of Dan Brown’s books (which also erupted into a controversy) was that Jesus had a wife and she was none other than his disciple Mary Magdalene. In fact I had never observed that there was a lady in The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci before I read Dan Brown. This pointer remained an assertion refuted by many traditionalists amongst Christians who had problems accepting the fact that Jesus Christ could have had a wife. But now, it seems there is a better clarity, thanks to the recent findings.
 

As reported in The New York Times here on 18/09/2012, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, Karen L. King, has found a scrap of papyrus on which Jesus is quoted as referring to “my wife.” As reported, the papyrus seems to have been written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …’”
 

The Australian News presents a good review of the finding and how the professor went about it, here. It looks authentic and as reported in the TOI, those who have reviewed the papyrus have said that it looks genuine and is not a fake.
 

The probability of Jesus having a wife has again created a flutter. But at the same time we can’t ignore the Dan Brown connection here. As mentioned in his books, the Church had tried to destroy all evidences of the lady and even distorted facts to suit its own version of the things and history. It will really be a great discovery to bring some of the surviving hard facts and proofs in front of all, so that people could be more aware than knowing what is expected by the Church for them to know.
 

We hope more such revelations come out in the open and throw light on such ignored parts of history. If such issues are controversial, I wish we rise above such controversies and see the ultimate truth. Because truth is one thing which separates us from the animals and if we don’t have it, our civilization doesn’t count much.
 

Disclaimer: The views are personal and not related to any organization attached to the author. The article mentions and provides web links and third party resources referred in this article, to the extent possible.