The new book Lost Gospel claims there is substantial evidence which proves Jesus was married and had children with Mary Magdalene.
The book, releasing this Wednesday, suggests that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had two kids. Author Simcha Jacobovici, a professor at York University in Canada, spent more than six years on the book and relied mostly on a 1,500-year-old Aramaic manuscript from a British library.
Here is the introduction from Lost Gospel:
“There is now written evidence that Jesus was married to Mary the Magdalene and that they had children together. … Gathering dust in the British library is a document that takes us into the missing years of Jesus’ life. … According to the document that we uncovered, sometime during this period he became engaged, got married, had sexual relations, and produced children. Before anyone gets his/her theological back up, keep in mind that we are not attacking anyone’s theology. We are reporting on text.”
Naturally, Christian scholars are rebutting Jacobovici’s book. Mark Goodacre, a Duke University professor of religious studies, discounts the way the book has been presented, saying “There is simply no evidence in this text or anywhere else that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, much less that they had a couple of children.”
Theologist Greg Caey said the book was simply a hoax and a money-grabbing scheme. Carey lays out his rebuttal in detail, citing different theories about Mary Magdalene. “All four Gospels feature Mary as the first to observe Jesus’ empty tomb,” he said. “She, perhaps with other women, provides the first testimony to the resurrection. An early Christian text, the Gospel of Mary, depicts Mary as the recipient of Jesus’ secret teaching. Mary may well have been an important figure in early Christianity. We just have no reason to think she married Jesus.”
The Lost Gospel is not the first claim that Jesus was married, however Jacobovici’s book does seem to have more substantial evidence in its favor.
[photo credit: freestone]