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Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife
From National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Ariel Sabar, the gripping true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that engulfed Harvard.
In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star professor at Harvard Divinity School, announced a blockbuster discovery at a scholarly conference just steps from the Vatican: She had found an ancient fragment of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene "my wife." The tattered manuscript made international headlines. If early Christians believed Jesus was married, it would upend the 2,000-year history of the world's predominant faith, threatening not just the celibate, all-male priesthood but sacred teachings on marriage, sex and women's leadership. Biblical scholars were in an uproar, but King had impeccable credentials as a world-renowned authority on female figures in the lost Christian texts from Egypt known as the Gnostic gospels. "The Gospel of Jesus's Wife"--as she provocatively titled her discovery--was both a crowning career achievement and powerful proof for her arguments that Christianity from its start embraced alternative, and far more inclusive, voices.
As debates over the manuscript's authenticity raged, award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar set out to investigate a baffling mystery: where did this tiny scrap of papyrus come from? His search for answers is an international detective story--leading from the factory districts of Berlin to the former headquarters of the East German Stasi before winding up in rural Florida, where he discovered an internet pornographer with a prophetess wife, a fascination with the Pharaohs and a tortured relationship with the Catholic Church.
In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star professor at Harvard Divinity School, announced a blockbuster discovery at a scholarly conference just steps from the Vatican: She had found an ancient fragment of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene "my wife." The tattered manuscript made international headlines. If early Christians believed Jesus was married, it would upend the 2,000-year history of the world's predominant faith, threatening not just the celibate, all-male priesthood but sacred teachings on marriage, sex and women's leadership. Biblical scholars were in an uproar, but King had impeccable credentials as a world-renowned authority on female figures in the lost Christian texts from Egypt known as the Gnostic gospels. "The Gospel of Jesus's Wife"--as she provocatively titled her discovery--was both a crowning career achievement and powerful proof for her arguments that Christianity from its start embraced alternative, and far more inclusive, voices.
As debates over the manuscript's authenticity raged, award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar set out to investigate a baffling mystery: where did this tiny scrap of papyrus come from? His search for answers is an international detective story--leading from the factory districts of Berlin to the former headquarters of the East German Stasi before winding up in rural Florida, where he discovered an internet pornographer with a prophetess wife, a fascination with the Pharaohs and a tortured relationship with the Catholic Church.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published August 11, 2020
About the author
Ariel Sabar
6 books66 followersAriel Sabar won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his debut book, My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq (2008). His second book, Heart of the City (2011), was called a "beguiling romp" (New York Times) and an "engaging, moving and lively read" (Toronto Star). His Kindle Single, The Outsider: The Life and Times of Roger Barker (2014), was a best-selling nonfiction short. His latest book—Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife—was published to rave reviews in August 2020.
Sabar is also an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, and This American Life, among many other places. He has reported from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Sabar graduated magna cum laude from Brown University. He taught creative writing at The George Washington University and has lectured about his books and magazine stories at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, the Royal Geographical Society of London, and Yale University, where he was a Poynter Fellow in Journalism. He has been interviewed about his books and articles on NPR, PBS NewsHour, and the BBC World Service.
Sabar is also an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, and This American Life, among many other places. He has reported from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Sabar graduated magna cum laude from Brown University. He taught creative writing at The George Washington University and has lectured about his books and magazine stories at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, the Royal Geographical Society of London, and Yale University, where he was a Poynter Fellow in Journalism. He has been interviewed about his books and articles on NPR, PBS NewsHour, and the BBC World Service.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 342 reviews
June 27, 2021
Based on the description I knew I wanted to read this book because it appeared to touch on a several areas of interest for me: early Christian history, academia, and, of course, true crime. I'm not a huge fan of the "did the wife really murder her husband" genre of true crime, but I do enjoy books that require me to learn a lot about a fairly esoteric subject in order to understand some criminal activity. (The Feather Thief is a great example.)
As it turns out, I got what I was looking for - and more, since Sabar also includes discussions of feminist issues and postmodern theory, both necessary for a complete understanding of the "why" behind this initially successful hoax. I could have done without the detailed analysis of the psychological forces that drove the con man, especially the lurid descriptions of his pornographic activities. IMO the book would have been just as effective had the author used a lighter touch in this area, though he may have felt the need to make the story "juicier". That makes little sense, though, since I doubt many readers would pick up this book in hopes of reading something racy.
The key points, in summary:
*Karen King, a highly respected Christian theologian at the Harvard Divinity School, accepts at face value a scrap of supposedly early Coptic papyrus that suggests that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus. This supports her lifelong struggle to substantiate a larger role of women in the early church.
*Walter Fritz is a lifelong con man with a background in Coptic studies, originally from Germany but living in Florida at the time of these events. His motivation for attempting this deception appears to be financial, but may have other layers as well.
*Over the course of several years it becomes clear that the papyrus is a fake. What is especially intriguing is Karen King's equivocal responses to each tell-tale revelation of a possible problem, and her manner once Sabar, an investigative journalist, puts all the pieces together and leaves her no recourse but to acknowledge that she had been duped.
Or had she? As we reach the end of the book we learn that she may have had alternate motivations to accept what she must have known from the start was a spurious claim for authenticity.
As much as I had enjoyed following Sabar's methodical, detailed, research, it was these revelations at the end that really resonated with me, in no small part because there is no reference to them in any of the reviews or the publisher's summary.
Despite the qualification I mentioned above, I enjoyed this on a number of levels: the topics I've mentioned, and tracking Sabar's investigation. Recommended - although I'm not sure to whom. You'll have to be the judge.
As it turns out, I got what I was looking for - and more, since Sabar also includes discussions of feminist issues and postmodern theory, both necessary for a complete understanding of the "why" behind this initially successful hoax. I could have done without the detailed analysis of the psychological forces that drove the con man, especially the lurid descriptions of his pornographic activities. IMO the book would have been just as effective had the author used a lighter touch in this area, though he may have felt the need to make the story "juicier". That makes little sense, though, since I doubt many readers would pick up this book in hopes of reading something racy.
The key points, in summary:
*Karen King, a highly respected Christian theologian at the Harvard Divinity School, accepts at face value a scrap of supposedly early Coptic papyrus that suggests that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus. This supports her lifelong struggle to substantiate a larger role of women in the early church.
*Walter Fritz is a lifelong con man with a background in Coptic studies, originally from Germany but living in Florida at the time of these events. His motivation for attempting this deception appears to be financial, but may have other layers as well.
*Over the course of several years it becomes clear that the papyrus is a fake. What is especially intriguing is Karen King's equivocal responses to each tell-tale revelation of a possible problem, and her manner once Sabar, an investigative journalist, puts all the pieces together and leaves her no recourse but to acknowledge that she had been duped.
Or had she? As we reach the end of the book we learn that she may have had alternate motivations to accept what she must have known from the start was a spurious claim for authenticity.
As much as I had enjoyed following Sabar's methodical, detailed, research, it was these revelations at the end that really resonated with me, in no small part because there is no reference to them in any of the reviews or the publisher's summary.
Despite the qualification I mentioned above, I enjoyed this on a number of levels: the topics I've mentioned, and tracking Sabar's investigation. Recommended - although I'm not sure to whom. You'll have to be the judge.
December 5, 2020
Veritas is an excellent example of investigative journalism centering on the now-infamous scrap of papyrus known as the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife". Despite the deliberately inflammatory title given to this forgery, and all the subsequent column inches it inspired as to whether the historical Jesus was married, Veritas isn't a pulpy, Da Vinci Code-esque read—if you go into this expecting breathless scandal, you will be disappointed. (Not to say that there isn't some salacious stuff in here, though. I'm wildly curious to know how many takes it took for the audiobook narrator to say "she launched their Yahoo discussion group, femalebarebackgangbangextreme, on January 27, 2001" without cracking up.) Ariel Sabar is much more interested in the causes, contexts, and consequences. But if you've got an interest in how a journalist pieces together a story, or in the psychology of why someone commits a con or willingly colludes in letting themselves be conned, I think you'll find this a fascinating read.
If you're reading this an academic who's in at least a related field, you will also get to read this on the level of appalled schadenfreude—knowing both just how much what Sabar describes is not at all what is supposed to happen, and how much actually solid, ethical academic work gets done outside of the Ivy League but will never get funding or awards or gullible coverage in the New York Times because it doesn't have the imprimatur of a big name university. I mean: boggle at the idea that in the late '90s you could get hired full prof at Harvard with one book! One book published at a press you co-founded! Shriek at an Ivy League professor saying she never thought a manuscript's provenance could be researched! Fire off appalled messages to friends in academia describing the apparent "peer review" process at a Harvard-edited journal and get responses saying "Are these people possessed?"
If you're reading this an academic who's in at least a related field, you will also get to read this on the level of appalled schadenfreude—knowing both just how much what Sabar describes is not at all what is supposed to happen, and how much actually solid, ethical academic work gets done outside of the Ivy League but will never get funding or awards or gullible coverage in the New York Times because it doesn't have the imprimatur of a big name university. I mean: boggle at the idea that in the late '90s you could get hired full prof at Harvard with one book! One book published at a press you co-founded! Shriek at an Ivy League professor saying she never thought a manuscript's provenance could be researched! Fire off appalled messages to friends in academia describing the apparent "peer review" process at a Harvard-edited journal and get responses saying "Are these people possessed?"
August 7, 2020
Please note that I read this via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Not too much to say here, this was pretty dry and not that exciting. I thought it would be a cool story about how someone lied to a well known Harvard professor about Mary Magdalene being Jesus's wife. Instead, this book jumped around a lot going into the Gospel of Mary, how the Gospel was discovered, and then back and forth into Dr. Karen King and the medical issues she was dealing with which may have caused her to not be hyper vigilant. I liked the historical interludes into this Gospel, other Gospels, and also into the some pop-cultural areas with Sabar going into Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code." Other than that, the book was a slog after a while and it took me several days to just parse through this.
"Veritas" is about Dr. Karen King, Historian of Religion, who is currently the Hollis Professor of Divinity, and what led Dr. King to declare that the random finding of a papyrus that someone claimed to be the Gospel of Jesus's wife, and how it came out that it was forged. The author, Ariel Sabor, also includes his investigation into the background on this forgery. In 2012, Dr. King announced the finding of the papyrus outside the Vatican which of course then led to a lot of discussion and potential consequences among the catholic Church to wonder what did it say about their religion if it came out that Jesus had been married.
I can't say much about this cause when this all came out in 2012 I was all of 32 year's old and had started a new job. I think I recall hearing about this on the nightly news and wondering if Dan's Brown novel was really nonfiction and went about my day. I just didn't find it very believable, but what did I know. Apparently though, this was not real and "Veritas" breaks down the very things that led to this document being declared real when it was in fact a forgery.
There are some things about this book I liked. One, I liked that we get into how Mary Magdalene was incorrectly called a prostitute and was forever seen that way going forward after Pope Gregory the First in 591 combined Mary with another Biblical figure and forever ruined her name. I also liked that we got more details about Mary and how she was probably a wealthy woman and how she was an apostle of Jesus too.
Around the 15 percent mark though I have to say that I started to become bored, around the 50 percent mark my eyes were glazing over. I was just glad to be done with this one. The flow was not great and the book needed a tighter edit in my opinion.
The ending of the book of course shows that the manuscript or whatever you want to call it was a forgery. And of course it seems to be asking why did Dr. King go along with this, what benefited her when it seems like she had to know it was a forgery. I don't know what to say, this book was weird to me in a way. I think Sabar tried to break up the story by inserting historical facts and pointing out what was fact or fiction, but the whole thing just read like a mess to me after a while.
Not too much to say here, this was pretty dry and not that exciting. I thought it would be a cool story about how someone lied to a well known Harvard professor about Mary Magdalene being Jesus's wife. Instead, this book jumped around a lot going into the Gospel of Mary, how the Gospel was discovered, and then back and forth into Dr. Karen King and the medical issues she was dealing with which may have caused her to not be hyper vigilant. I liked the historical interludes into this Gospel, other Gospels, and also into the some pop-cultural areas with Sabar going into Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code." Other than that, the book was a slog after a while and it took me several days to just parse through this.
"Veritas" is about Dr. Karen King, Historian of Religion, who is currently the Hollis Professor of Divinity, and what led Dr. King to declare that the random finding of a papyrus that someone claimed to be the Gospel of Jesus's wife, and how it came out that it was forged. The author, Ariel Sabor, also includes his investigation into the background on this forgery. In 2012, Dr. King announced the finding of the papyrus outside the Vatican which of course then led to a lot of discussion and potential consequences among the catholic Church to wonder what did it say about their religion if it came out that Jesus had been married.
I can't say much about this cause when this all came out in 2012 I was all of 32 year's old and had started a new job. I think I recall hearing about this on the nightly news and wondering if Dan's Brown novel was really nonfiction and went about my day. I just didn't find it very believable, but what did I know. Apparently though, this was not real and "Veritas" breaks down the very things that led to this document being declared real when it was in fact a forgery.
There are some things about this book I liked. One, I liked that we get into how Mary Magdalene was incorrectly called a prostitute and was forever seen that way going forward after Pope Gregory the First in 591 combined Mary with another Biblical figure and forever ruined her name. I also liked that we got more details about Mary and how she was probably a wealthy woman and how she was an apostle of Jesus too.
Around the 15 percent mark though I have to say that I started to become bored, around the 50 percent mark my eyes were glazing over. I was just glad to be done with this one. The flow was not great and the book needed a tighter edit in my opinion.
The ending of the book of course shows that the manuscript or whatever you want to call it was a forgery. And of course it seems to be asking why did Dr. King go along with this, what benefited her when it seems like she had to know it was a forgery. I don't know what to say, this book was weird to me in a way. I think Sabar tried to break up the story by inserting historical facts and pointing out what was fact or fiction, but the whole thing just read like a mess to me after a while.
January 20, 2021
Really hope no one ever publishes a 400 page takedown of my academic career!
December 1, 2020
Why five stars? For two reasons; one rather obvious, the other less so.
The obvious reason is that it is a gripping read. A fascinating read. The twists and turns in the story are so dramatic at points that I had to stop and look up the story behind the book to make sure that I hadn't accidentally purchased a work of fiction. There is also a wealth of insights about the rigor (or lack thereof) of certain scholarly disciplines.
But there is also another reason. As I was reading the book, I kept getting a strange feeling. There was something peculiar about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then it hit me: the author was actually doing journalism. Not the thin imitation of journalism that goes by the name these days and that consists of googling or calling up sources for quotes to fit into the blanks of a pre-written story. But actual fact hunting.
When a source tells Mr. Sahar something in the book, he does not simply write down what they've said, or even write it down and give his comment on it. Instead he does things like take a trip to Florida to comb through property tax records to see if he can confirm or disconfirm it. And when he finds a piece of evidence that supports or opposes what someone has told him, he doesn't stop, but continues to look for other evidence. He interviews other sources to see what they know. And after doing all this, he returns to the source and asks them about it, beginning the process all over again. The extent of the research involved is so extensive that at one point the author apparently reviewed homemade porn tapes to see what was on the desk tops and bookshelves in the background (I told you it was a gripping read).
The contrast between the depth of research that went into this work and what typically passes for reporting today is so stark that it raises some very important questions about the nature of modern publishing (its own form of veritas). And for that I give five stars.
The obvious reason is that it is a gripping read. A fascinating read. The twists and turns in the story are so dramatic at points that I had to stop and look up the story behind the book to make sure that I hadn't accidentally purchased a work of fiction. There is also a wealth of insights about the rigor (or lack thereof) of certain scholarly disciplines.
But there is also another reason. As I was reading the book, I kept getting a strange feeling. There was something peculiar about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then it hit me: the author was actually doing journalism. Not the thin imitation of journalism that goes by the name these days and that consists of googling or calling up sources for quotes to fit into the blanks of a pre-written story. But actual fact hunting.
When a source tells Mr. Sahar something in the book, he does not simply write down what they've said, or even write it down and give his comment on it. Instead he does things like take a trip to Florida to comb through property tax records to see if he can confirm or disconfirm it. And when he finds a piece of evidence that supports or opposes what someone has told him, he doesn't stop, but continues to look for other evidence. He interviews other sources to see what they know. And after doing all this, he returns to the source and asks them about it, beginning the process all over again. The extent of the research involved is so extensive that at one point the author apparently reviewed homemade porn tapes to see what was on the desk tops and bookshelves in the background (I told you it was a gripping read).
The contrast between the depth of research that went into this work and what typically passes for reporting today is so stark that it raises some very important questions about the nature of modern publishing (its own form of veritas). And for that I give five stars.
October 11, 2020
Physically the artefact consists of a scrap of papyrus about the size of a calling card, consisting of seven lines written in Coptic, an ancient Egyptian language.
1 ] “not [to] me. My mother gave to me li[fe…”
2 ] .” The disciples said to Jesus, “.
[ 3 ] deny. Mary is (not?) worthy of it
[ 4 ]…” Jesus said to them, “My wife . .
[ 5 ]… she is able to be my disciple . .
[ 6 ] . Let wicked people swell up …
[ 7] . As for me, I am with her1 in order to .
[ 8 ] . an image …
From this, Karen King, a Harvard Divinity School professor, hypothesized a “gospel” revealing that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. One of the great deficiencies in the study of early Christianity is the lack of sources outside of the canonical Christian scriptures. Especially amongst feminist scholars, there is a notion that other documents were destroyed by the patriarchal “orthodox” Christian authorities as heretical, and the few that survive, documents with labels like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Judas, received considerable publicity from the popular press before fading into obscurity. For those of us who believe that the New Testament is most likely the only source we have of authentic information about Jesus of Nazareth, those gnostic writings of genuine antiquity are probably late fictional theological propaganda with no first-hand connection to the historical Jesus.
A standing joke about a religious studies department in a secular university is that it is the only department where the professors are forbidden to maintain that what they teach is actually true. Ironically, in the case of Harvard Divinity School, some of the Harvard faculty, such as Steven Pinker, claim that a college training ministers has no business in a modern university, based on scientific and rational principle. (Apparently such critics have no problem with a school of government that trains politicians, a school of business that trains prospective CEOs, and a college of education for “educators”—not to mention a college of law!) Amusingly, the publicity surrounding “the gospel of Jesus wife” gave the divinity school a new lease on life. One could add that a lot more real science, including carbon 14 dating, chemical analysis of the inks, and paleographic analysis of the script, seems to have gone into the examination of that papyrus fragment than underlies the publications of Professor Pinker.
I think we scholars are fascinated by forgeries because they appeal to our delight in trying to solve mystery stories as a test of our knowledge of the past. But too often we lose sight of the maxim that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is not. Like other inventors, forgers have to know their market. In such an age of faith as the Middle Ages, when relics were thought to do miracles, artefacts like the Shroud of Turin were created. Now in our age of disbelief (at least in tradition), many religious studies professors have never seen a heresy they didn’t like. Except for Roman Catholics, with their practice of clerical celibacy, there is no reason Christians should be surprised at the notion of a married Jesus—personally I’ve long wondered if he might have been a widower. As we have references to Jesus’ mother and brothers in the Scriptures, if Jesus had a wife during the period of his ministry, we might have heard of her.
Ariel Sabar is a journalist not a scholar, but he spins a marvellous tale, beginning with the story of Karen King’s announcement (at the Vatican, appropriately) of the document, and then following with the investigation of the genuineness of the fragment itself, and finally tracing the actual source by way to Berlin to Florida. The author’s publishers seem to have been very generous in covering travel expenses and providing translators. It’s ironic that forgeries are much more interesting to read and write about than real biblical studies, but I remained entranced till nearly the end, when the rather squalid real identity of the creator was revealed. And once we find out how it was manufactured, it seems strange that it was not immediately taken for a prima facie fake.
1 ] “not [to] me. My mother gave to me li[fe…”
2 ] .” The disciples said to Jesus, “.
[ 3 ] deny. Mary is (not?) worthy of it
[ 4 ]…” Jesus said to them, “My wife . .
[ 5 ]… she is able to be my disciple . .
[ 6 ] . Let wicked people swell up …
[ 7] . As for me, I am with her1 in order to .
[ 8 ] . an image …
From this, Karen King, a Harvard Divinity School professor, hypothesized a “gospel” revealing that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. One of the great deficiencies in the study of early Christianity is the lack of sources outside of the canonical Christian scriptures. Especially amongst feminist scholars, there is a notion that other documents were destroyed by the patriarchal “orthodox” Christian authorities as heretical, and the few that survive, documents with labels like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Judas, received considerable publicity from the popular press before fading into obscurity. For those of us who believe that the New Testament is most likely the only source we have of authentic information about Jesus of Nazareth, those gnostic writings of genuine antiquity are probably late fictional theological propaganda with no first-hand connection to the historical Jesus.
A standing joke about a religious studies department in a secular university is that it is the only department where the professors are forbidden to maintain that what they teach is actually true. Ironically, in the case of Harvard Divinity School, some of the Harvard faculty, such as Steven Pinker, claim that a college training ministers has no business in a modern university, based on scientific and rational principle. (Apparently such critics have no problem with a school of government that trains politicians, a school of business that trains prospective CEOs, and a college of education for “educators”—not to mention a college of law!) Amusingly, the publicity surrounding “the gospel of Jesus wife” gave the divinity school a new lease on life. One could add that a lot more real science, including carbon 14 dating, chemical analysis of the inks, and paleographic analysis of the script, seems to have gone into the examination of that papyrus fragment than underlies the publications of Professor Pinker.
I think we scholars are fascinated by forgeries because they appeal to our delight in trying to solve mystery stories as a test of our knowledge of the past. But too often we lose sight of the maxim that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is not. Like other inventors, forgers have to know their market. In such an age of faith as the Middle Ages, when relics were thought to do miracles, artefacts like the Shroud of Turin were created. Now in our age of disbelief (at least in tradition), many religious studies professors have never seen a heresy they didn’t like. Except for Roman Catholics, with their practice of clerical celibacy, there is no reason Christians should be surprised at the notion of a married Jesus—personally I’ve long wondered if he might have been a widower. As we have references to Jesus’ mother and brothers in the Scriptures, if Jesus had a wife during the period of his ministry, we might have heard of her.
Ariel Sabar is a journalist not a scholar, but he spins a marvellous tale, beginning with the story of Karen King’s announcement (at the Vatican, appropriately) of the document, and then following with the investigation of the genuineness of the fragment itself, and finally tracing the actual source by way to Berlin to Florida. The author’s publishers seem to have been very generous in covering travel expenses and providing translators. It’s ironic that forgeries are much more interesting to read and write about than real biblical studies, but I remained entranced till nearly the end, when the rather squalid real identity of the creator was revealed. And once we find out how it was manufactured, it seems strange that it was not immediately taken for a prima facie fake.
August 28, 2021
The finest investigative journalism is always a good read. This book is a fine example of it. This complex story is told by a writer with a great talent for educating the reader and keeping the story understandable. The study of ancient documents, the science around it, the theological issues of women and the church, broader theological issues, the politics of academia and the motivations of real people with real power were all carefully and meticulously covered. I could not put this excellent book down. The reader will learn and be inspired to think about many important topics with this book.
December 7, 2021
Veritas in Latin translates as "truth". Sabar has written a detailed and fascinating book about how that was achieved in the case of a papyrus fragment that had a series of words that could be interpreted to suggest that Jesus was married (ala DaVinci Code -- a fun book, btw.). Sabar's story contains confirmation bias, hubris, amateur scholars v. professional scholars, and academic jealousies. Truths might take a while to get into the Ivory Tower but they do make it eventually.
The temptation to read a concept into something because it matches an agenda we already subscribe to is an overwhelming temptation. Karen King, esteemed professor in the Divinity School at Harvard, fell victim to a forged papyrus that could (! not necessarily) have suggested Jesus had a wife. (That it's much more likely he was gay, given his predilection for hanging out with guys, has been suspected in other quarters.) Nevertheless, this scrap of papyrus was a dream come true for King who had argued the Church's position on women was all wrong.
The story is fascinating. Two amateur Coptic scholars, one an atheist, when they had a chance to look at the fragment, realized the translation and wording was lifted verbatim from the Gospel of Thomas and the translation of the word for "my" most likely had a different meaning anyway. Other professional scholars also revealed doubts although their argument that the grammar was inappropriate for the time period didn't convince me. All you have to do is watch television or listen to conversations on the street and you will quickly realize how perverted colloquial grammar can become. Words like notorious, infamous, and famous have all become synonymous, ruining any former subtleties, not to mention confusion of ran and run, nor the infamous "he gave it to you and I" which sends shivers down my Strunk and White. (If you don't know what Strunk and White is, then you're part of the problem.) Not to mention the total destruction of the past tense by the historical present. End of rant.
Sabar had followed the story from the beginning and it was his article in the Atlantic that reopened the furor. He had taken the time to track down the origin of the fragment and doggedly sleuthed out the seller of the fragment, something King most assuredly should have done.
Along the way, Sabar discusses the history of our attitudes toward marriage and Augustine's obsession with sex as well as the non-canonical Gospels. It all provides very appropriate context. In the end I don't damn King as much as others have in the media. We ALL suffer from confirmation bias and her case is simply confirmation of how powerful it can be. (Puns intended.)
The temptation to read a concept into something because it matches an agenda we already subscribe to is an overwhelming temptation. Karen King, esteemed professor in the Divinity School at Harvard, fell victim to a forged papyrus that could (! not necessarily) have suggested Jesus had a wife. (That it's much more likely he was gay, given his predilection for hanging out with guys, has been suspected in other quarters.) Nevertheless, this scrap of papyrus was a dream come true for King who had argued the Church's position on women was all wrong.
The story is fascinating. Two amateur Coptic scholars, one an atheist, when they had a chance to look at the fragment, realized the translation and wording was lifted verbatim from the Gospel of Thomas and the translation of the word for "my" most likely had a different meaning anyway. Other professional scholars also revealed doubts although their argument that the grammar was inappropriate for the time period didn't convince me. All you have to do is watch television or listen to conversations on the street and you will quickly realize how perverted colloquial grammar can become. Words like notorious, infamous, and famous have all become synonymous, ruining any former subtleties, not to mention confusion of ran and run, nor the infamous "he gave it to you and I" which sends shivers down my Strunk and White. (If you don't know what Strunk and White is, then you're part of the problem.) Not to mention the total destruction of the past tense by the historical present. End of rant.
Sabar had followed the story from the beginning and it was his article in the Atlantic that reopened the furor. He had taken the time to track down the origin of the fragment and doggedly sleuthed out the seller of the fragment, something King most assuredly should have done.
Along the way, Sabar discusses the history of our attitudes toward marriage and Augustine's obsession with sex as well as the non-canonical Gospels. It all provides very appropriate context. In the end I don't damn King as much as others have in the media. We ALL suffer from confirmation bias and her case is simply confirmation of how powerful it can be. (Puns intended.)
October 2, 2022
* honestly, religion fucks people up, i don't understand why we still bother with it
* anyway
* this is the story about a papyrus which allegedly demonstrated that jesus had a wife
* as you can probably tell, the world lost its shit, until it was pretty much proven that it was a forgery
* it's an extremely convoluted story, that i admit was difficult to follow at times, but i need to praise the author for his incredible efforts at following leads and discovering shit
* i had fun reading it, but i got a bit tired towards the end, so I admit to skimming the last 2 chapters or so
* i do recommend it, because it's genuinely a batshit crazy story, that raises a lot of discussion about faith, the church, the role and station of women in christianity and in modern times
* anyway
* this is the story about a papyrus which allegedly demonstrated that jesus had a wife
* as you can probably tell, the world lost its shit, until it was pretty much proven that it was a forgery
* it's an extremely convoluted story, that i admit was difficult to follow at times, but i need to praise the author for his incredible efforts at following leads and discovering shit
* i had fun reading it, but i got a bit tired towards the end, so I admit to skimming the last 2 chapters or so
* i do recommend it, because it's genuinely a batshit crazy story, that raises a lot of discussion about faith, the church, the role and station of women in christianity and in modern times
August 18, 2020
***I was granted an ARC of this via Netgalley from the publisher.***
The search for truth is an important one. However, waht happens if our search for truth becomes clouded by our own biases and what we want to be true because 'the end justifies the means'? In the book, Vertias: A Harvard Professor, A Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus' Wife by Ariel Sabar, the author takes a look at one such situation. When a Harvard professor is approached by an anonymous individual claiming to have legitimate old papyrus that he leads her to believe has proof that an old Christian text referred to Jesus having a wife, its a discovery she is eager to announce. However, under scrutiny from her peers it turns out to be an elaborate forgery. Sabar takes us down the rabbit hole of his investigation into the forgery that feels like at times a mystery novel with all the twists and turns in the story. His profile of the con man is one of the most interesting sections of the book exposing the myriad of lies the man had weaved about himself while still portraying him as a human and not a monster. And he does a good job of questioning the motives of the Harvard professor in question, the questionable things she did up to and after revealing the papyrus to the world and throughout her career. It is these penetrating questions that show us how what one may want to be true can corrupt one's search for what is actually true. This is one of the best non-fiction books that I read all year. It will grab you and have you glued to its pages as the story becomes clearer through all the twists and turns that are uncovered throughout the investigation. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes history, archeology, or true crime.
Rating: 5/5 stars. Would highly recommend to a friend.
The search for truth is an important one. However, waht happens if our search for truth becomes clouded by our own biases and what we want to be true because 'the end justifies the means'? In the book, Vertias: A Harvard Professor, A Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus' Wife by Ariel Sabar, the author takes a look at one such situation. When a Harvard professor is approached by an anonymous individual claiming to have legitimate old papyrus that he leads her to believe has proof that an old Christian text referred to Jesus having a wife, its a discovery she is eager to announce. However, under scrutiny from her peers it turns out to be an elaborate forgery. Sabar takes us down the rabbit hole of his investigation into the forgery that feels like at times a mystery novel with all the twists and turns in the story. His profile of the con man is one of the most interesting sections of the book exposing the myriad of lies the man had weaved about himself while still portraying him as a human and not a monster. And he does a good job of questioning the motives of the Harvard professor in question, the questionable things she did up to and after revealing the papyrus to the world and throughout her career. It is these penetrating questions that show us how what one may want to be true can corrupt one's search for what is actually true. This is one of the best non-fiction books that I read all year. It will grab you and have you glued to its pages as the story becomes clearer through all the twists and turns that are uncovered throughout the investigation. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes history, archeology, or true crime.
Rating: 5/5 stars. Would highly recommend to a friend.
February 7, 2020
In 2012, Dr. Karen King, holder of the prestigious title Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard's Divinity School, announced at a conference held just outside the Vatican, that she had discovered an ancient piece of papyrus calling Mary Magdalene Jesus' wife. If true, this could change everything. A discovery of this magnitude could have far-reaching consequences for the modern church. Celibacy for the priesthood and nuns could be challenged. The place of women in the church could be changed in some sects where women are still forbidden to teach. A discovery like this would change the narrative of theological thought and history.
There is just one problem. Dr. King's discovery is met with criticism and doubt. Many scholars disagree and believe her scrap of papyrus is a forgery. After working hard all her life to be heard, has Dr. Karen King thrown away her reputation on a forgery?
This book would shock those who believe the Bible is the unerring word of God. But for those of us who have often wondered what the texts truly said, or how many texts there actually may be, this is the kind of book that gets your mind working. Discussion of the Gnostic Gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and others are fascinating. Also, the timing of the writing of the books that are in the modern Bible is telling. It should make one open to the fact that there may be more texts, contradictory texts, alternate ideas and events. While teaching at Occidental College, King taught students the difference between doctrine and historical fact. She considered herself an historian. "A favorite exercise involved asking them (students) to find the words "apple" or "sin" in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve; neither is there. The surprise the students felt was proof, King suggested, of how successful ancient theologians had been at passing off doctrine as fact." This quote gives a good insight into King, if you add the fact that she is working with a bit of feminist theory also. She wants to find that women were, indeed, valuable and useful in Biblical times, that there is no sound religious reason for leaving women out as teachers, prophets, leaders. She wanted to be able to tell the story differently than it has been told.
King also liked to throw fact in the face of many theologians and point out that the gospels never called Mary Magdalene a prostitute. She points out that the book of Mark in the modern Bible has 12 final verses that are missing from the earliest copies of the book. Scholars believe these final verses were added by scribes later in order to align the book with developments in theology. So, if the Bible as we know it has been changed, altered over time to fit theology, then why can't there be proof that Mary Magdalene was more than just a woman?
Veritas follows the progression of the "discovery" of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, as Dr. King called the papyrus the scrap was from. She defends her claims, digs her heels in and stands firm that the fragment is legitimate, and not a forgery. Other scholars and experts weigh in with doubts. As this is all taking place, journalist Ariel Sabar decides to follow the clues, research the papyrus, find its origins, and bring forth the truth, one way or the other, for once and for all.
Sabar uncovers the "provenance" of the piece is questionable. He finds holes in every story the owner of the scrap gives. Though King initially tried to keep the owner's name a secret, it was discovered the owner did not ask for anonymity. There are many things that point to the fact that King knew there were problems with the authenticity. Information she withheld, facts she kept hidden. She claimed she didn't know the provenance of the piece could be researched, though her entire career prior to that was based on finding historical facts. How a person who considers themselves a historian does not know provenance can be researched is unbelievable. There is the fact that she hid personal relationships between herself and certain "experts" who verified her information or between other "experts" is suspect. It seemed the more evidence came forward to make the forgery of the piece obvious, the more King doubled down and insisted it was authentic.
In the end, the fragment is proven to be a forgery. There can be no doubt. But how could a woman so brilliant and accomplished be so easily fooled? I am not sure she was. It appears, as you follow the story, that King had all this information at her fingertips. However, she ignored it. She knew what she wanted the fragment to be, and there was no way she was giving that up. Additionally, there were internal issues at Harvard at the time. There was a possibility that the School of Divinity would be closed and a Department of Religion take its place on the regular campus. Was Karen King willing to lie to show "proof" of her own beliefs and save the School of Divinity by providing it with big news, a great discovery to prove its value?
It is hard to say what goes on in another's mind, but if you read Veritas, you will get the distinct idea that there was definitely something self serving in King's behavior. In addition to her behavior is the fascinating story of Walter Fritz, the owner and likely forger of the scrap of papyrus. He is quite a charlatan, and has managed to live a fairly successful life through entirely fraudulent claims and means. It is very interesting to see how this man has reinvented himself several times.
Well researched and interesting, Veritas is bound to hold the interest of anyone interested in theology, women in theology, or fraudulent copies of ancient texts and art.
There is just one problem. Dr. King's discovery is met with criticism and doubt. Many scholars disagree and believe her scrap of papyrus is a forgery. After working hard all her life to be heard, has Dr. Karen King thrown away her reputation on a forgery?
This book would shock those who believe the Bible is the unerring word of God. But for those of us who have often wondered what the texts truly said, or how many texts there actually may be, this is the kind of book that gets your mind working. Discussion of the Gnostic Gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and others are fascinating. Also, the timing of the writing of the books that are in the modern Bible is telling. It should make one open to the fact that there may be more texts, contradictory texts, alternate ideas and events. While teaching at Occidental College, King taught students the difference between doctrine and historical fact. She considered herself an historian. "A favorite exercise involved asking them (students) to find the words "apple" or "sin" in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve; neither is there. The surprise the students felt was proof, King suggested, of how successful ancient theologians had been at passing off doctrine as fact." This quote gives a good insight into King, if you add the fact that she is working with a bit of feminist theory also. She wants to find that women were, indeed, valuable and useful in Biblical times, that there is no sound religious reason for leaving women out as teachers, prophets, leaders. She wanted to be able to tell the story differently than it has been told.
King also liked to throw fact in the face of many theologians and point out that the gospels never called Mary Magdalene a prostitute. She points out that the book of Mark in the modern Bible has 12 final verses that are missing from the earliest copies of the book. Scholars believe these final verses were added by scribes later in order to align the book with developments in theology. So, if the Bible as we know it has been changed, altered over time to fit theology, then why can't there be proof that Mary Magdalene was more than just a woman?
Veritas follows the progression of the "discovery" of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, as Dr. King called the papyrus the scrap was from. She defends her claims, digs her heels in and stands firm that the fragment is legitimate, and not a forgery. Other scholars and experts weigh in with doubts. As this is all taking place, journalist Ariel Sabar decides to follow the clues, research the papyrus, find its origins, and bring forth the truth, one way or the other, for once and for all.
Sabar uncovers the "provenance" of the piece is questionable. He finds holes in every story the owner of the scrap gives. Though King initially tried to keep the owner's name a secret, it was discovered the owner did not ask for anonymity. There are many things that point to the fact that King knew there were problems with the authenticity. Information she withheld, facts she kept hidden. She claimed she didn't know the provenance of the piece could be researched, though her entire career prior to that was based on finding historical facts. How a person who considers themselves a historian does not know provenance can be researched is unbelievable. There is the fact that she hid personal relationships between herself and certain "experts" who verified her information or between other "experts" is suspect. It seemed the more evidence came forward to make the forgery of the piece obvious, the more King doubled down and insisted it was authentic.
In the end, the fragment is proven to be a forgery. There can be no doubt. But how could a woman so brilliant and accomplished be so easily fooled? I am not sure she was. It appears, as you follow the story, that King had all this information at her fingertips. However, she ignored it. She knew what she wanted the fragment to be, and there was no way she was giving that up. Additionally, there were internal issues at Harvard at the time. There was a possibility that the School of Divinity would be closed and a Department of Religion take its place on the regular campus. Was Karen King willing to lie to show "proof" of her own beliefs and save the School of Divinity by providing it with big news, a great discovery to prove its value?
It is hard to say what goes on in another's mind, but if you read Veritas, you will get the distinct idea that there was definitely something self serving in King's behavior. In addition to her behavior is the fascinating story of Walter Fritz, the owner and likely forger of the scrap of papyrus. He is quite a charlatan, and has managed to live a fairly successful life through entirely fraudulent claims and means. It is very interesting to see how this man has reinvented himself several times.
Well researched and interesting, Veritas is bound to hold the interest of anyone interested in theology, women in theology, or fraudulent copies of ancient texts and art.
June 2, 2020
I am kind of really obsessed with bizarre true stories, so when I read the subtitle of this book, I knew I had to read it. I won't pretend to know what's right and wrong about the history within this book, but the way that Sabar tells the story is absolutely fascinating. I loved reading about the tangled history of religion throughout the years and how things have been misconstrued. I loved reading about Dr. Karen King and what led her to declare the finding the papyrus of the Gospel of Jesus' Wife that ended up being forged. And I loved the way that Sabar wove the story of his investigation throughout. It is enchanting, intoxicating and I couldn't put it down! So the real question now is - did King know what she was doing all along or did she just only see what she wanted to see? Read and judge for yourself.
December 21, 2020
As an undergraduate student of history, religion, and museum studies, I feel like this book was written for me. Not only is there a compelling detective narrative at the heart of the story, there are also insights into the ethics involved in each of the fields I am studying. I read Sabar’s Atlantic piece for a course last spring and was riveted throughout this greatly expanded version as well. If you are at all interested in the academic study of religion and controversies within that field, I would definitely give this book a try.
November 16, 2020
Veritas is a deeply impressive example of dogged and insightful investigative work (by the author and several religious scholars who challenged the authenticity of two controversial papyri) and a blistering analysis of the dubious professionalism of Dr. Karen King. A fair amount of space is also dedicated to the con man. These sections are excellent at first (how the author tracks him down and repeatedly finds holes in his stories) but I was far less interested in his motivations (he's a con man) than I was with Dr. King's.
Early sections of the book lay foundational groundwork relating to the roles of women in the early Christian church and the origins of the rules regarding clerical celibacy. The papyrus at issue was dubbed the Gospel of Jesus's Wife ("GJW") so the women/sex subjects are a central theme. The book also frequently references The Da Vinci Code as there's significant overlap with it and GJW.
While the investigative portions of the book were fun, funny and often riveting the most substantial part (the last section) related to Sabar's inexorable dismantling of Dr. King. Anyone interested in reading Veritas should avoid the later highlights because they contain spoilers.
Early sections of the book lay foundational groundwork relating to the roles of women in the early Christian church and the origins of the rules regarding clerical celibacy. The papyrus at issue was dubbed the Gospel of Jesus's Wife ("GJW") so the women/sex subjects are a central theme. The book also frequently references The Da Vinci Code as there's significant overlap with it and GJW.
While the investigative portions of the book were fun, funny and often riveting the most substantial part (the last section) related to Sabar's inexorable dismantling of Dr. King. Anyone interested in reading Veritas should avoid the later highlights because they contain spoilers.
October 25, 2023
This is a fascinating book, and having grown up reading “Biblical Archaeology Review” all during the “James Ossuary” drama and all the Da Vinci Code rebuttals, it was fun to revisit those years and subjects. The information and research is thorough, the depictions of academia and techniques of forgery quite interesting. I felt like this book could have been way more fun if it wasn’t made clear from the get-go that the fragment in question was a hoax, and honestly the whole book was about a third too long.
November 10, 2020
Look, I know we've all concluded that we're experts on the media: the many problems with coverage, the vague, ill-defined way bias skews what's reported, the left-right dichotomy that allows us to accept or dismiss the validity of sources without engaging with them objectively. Nevertheless, there's a lot of value in books like these that show what really good investigative journalism looks like. In this case, it takes skillful and persistent reporting to shine the light on a con artist forger of ancient Coptic papyrus and a prominent activist-scholar less concerned with historical accuracy than with furthering the narrative of female Christian leadership, and there's a lot of pleasure in following along as journalist Ariel Sabar puts the pieces of this mystery together and provides just enough context to understand everything. So, while a lot of people I went to high school with still assure me that the media is all corrupt and full of liars, I'm still going to seek out books like these that demonstrate the opposite.
October 28, 2023
I expected Magdalene conspiracy theories, which I got. I didn’t expect Montana ranchers, a Floridian porn star, and the East German Stasi.
Fascinating!
Fascinating!
December 26, 2020
Nonfiction structured like a spy novel. Gradually, we learn . . .
• what the scandal was
• why it was a scandal
• who the criminal was
• what the criminal's motivations probably were
• who the "mark" was
• what that person's motivations were for changing her mind and taking a tremendous risk
• what the scandal was
• why it was a scandal
• who the criminal was
• what the criminal's motivations probably were
• who the "mark" was
• what that person's motivations were for changing her mind and taking a tremendous risk
August 7, 2022
Sometimes you get books recommended by people who just get you, y'know? And my girl Lauren REALLY fucking gets me.
This book was the perfect combination of so many of my pedantic interests: academic melodrama and politics (SO MANY FLASHBACKS TO MY DAYS AS A UNIVERSITY PRESS EDITOR), Christian theology and Catholic scandals (um... less fun flashbacks to my journey away from Catholicism), feminism (it me!), a dogged journalist who refused to accept answers at face value and painstakingly explained literally thousands of years of background information (let's be honest, I'm a slut for good journalism), true crime (I am a middle-class white lady in her thirties, after all), and an utterly ridiculous con man. It's like someone poured my brain into a book generator and this read fell out!
I'm disappointed that Sabar hasn't written more books, mostly because I will read anything this guy puts out. But I also recognize that this thing was years in the making, and you really can't rush the dissection of a story like this. It's not only complex, but political on so many levels. The worlds of academia and theology alone are heavily weighted with politics, bureaucracy, and ugly history. Combine them and it's a perfect storm for scandal. It takes a truly talented journalist to dissect all that, and Sabar had the advantage of being on the scene from day one.
The human element of this book is almost more fascinating than the bureaucratic scandals. The characters of the titular Harvard professor and con man are fleshed out with compassion and nuance, which I appreciated. I think we can all relate to someone who wants so badly for something to be true that they ignore evidence to the contrary. Especially when that something is of personal and political importance. And I also think we can all relate to the shocking fascination of watching a compulsive liar get caught in his lies in real time. I spent a good chunk of this book with my eyes squinted and my mother agape in disbelief. And that was before we got to the hot wifing fetish monetization (you read that right).
If you're tired of the true crime obsession with gruesome murders, you love history, and you whip up a bowl of popcorn when you hear about pedantic drama, read this book. It's sooooo fucking good you guys!
This book was the perfect combination of so many of my pedantic interests: academic melodrama and politics (SO MANY FLASHBACKS TO MY DAYS AS A UNIVERSITY PRESS EDITOR), Christian theology and Catholic scandals (um... less fun flashbacks to my journey away from Catholicism), feminism (it me!), a dogged journalist who refused to accept answers at face value and painstakingly explained literally thousands of years of background information (let's be honest, I'm a slut for good journalism), true crime (I am a middle-class white lady in her thirties, after all), and an utterly ridiculous con man. It's like someone poured my brain into a book generator and this read fell out!
I'm disappointed that Sabar hasn't written more books, mostly because I will read anything this guy puts out. But I also recognize that this thing was years in the making, and you really can't rush the dissection of a story like this. It's not only complex, but political on so many levels. The worlds of academia and theology alone are heavily weighted with politics, bureaucracy, and ugly history. Combine them and it's a perfect storm for scandal. It takes a truly talented journalist to dissect all that, and Sabar had the advantage of being on the scene from day one.
The human element of this book is almost more fascinating than the bureaucratic scandals. The characters of the titular Harvard professor and con man are fleshed out with compassion and nuance, which I appreciated. I think we can all relate to someone who wants so badly for something to be true that they ignore evidence to the contrary. Especially when that something is of personal and political importance. And I also think we can all relate to the shocking fascination of watching a compulsive liar get caught in his lies in real time. I spent a good chunk of this book with my eyes squinted and my mother agape in disbelief. And that was before we got to the hot wifing fetish monetization (you read that right).
If you're tired of the true crime obsession with gruesome murders, you love history, and you whip up a bowl of popcorn when you hear about pedantic drama, read this book. It's sooooo fucking good you guys!
November 27, 2020
I'm fascinated by biblical archeology. In fact, I live in Israel, so it's especially interesting to me to see the number of digs and the layer upon layer of ancient history that reveals itself slowly, adding to our understanding of just how, when and by whom the bible was written. Dan Brown is not the world's most literary writer but I tore through the Da Vinci code; I loved the tantalizing mystery of it. I'm also interested in the ways that early Christianity codified this new religion, picking and choosing among various texts. Veritas will make a great documentary film - for sure. But the book itself focuses on academic infighting, politics and the obsessions that lie within that sphere. Sabar is a good and thorough writer and researcher, have no doubt about that. He spent years on this book. I could write a one sentence spoiler that would boil it all down all too quickly though. Hint: the book title. I'm not complaining, this is a book that some will really love because it's SO thorough. I just found it too granular and dry, and after the midpoint, I just couldn't stay awake.
January 17, 2021
True Crime meets textual criticism. And I am here—for—it.
June 21, 2023
The Holy Scriptures (the Jewish Bible or Old Testament, and the Christian New Testament) are wonderfully pliable, allowing seekers to find what they hope to find within their pages. This plasticity of meaning accounts for many of the differences between Christian and quasi-Christian faith groups today. Every one would like to attach their modern position to an anchor in biblical history. Jesus says to Peter "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18) and the Roman Catholic Church infers that this means that the pope is the (sole) successor to Saint Peter. Jesus says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice" (John 10:16) and the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) infer that this refers to Jews of the House of Joseph who were transported to America six centuries before Christ, to whom Jesus went and spoke. Saint Paul wrote “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:1). Attorney General Jeff Sessions used this passage to defend the government's policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the border. In Leviticus 20:27 it says "A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death, their blood is upon them." This is extremely bad news for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Proverbs 22:15 counsels "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him" which has been used to defend abusive child discipline. In the 23rd century, there are a great many theologians, preachers and academics who strive to change the way the modern church understands Holy Scripture as a means to changing the policy and polity of the church. No better example can be offered than the role of women, in the Bible and in the church. Harvard historian Karen King wanted deeply to provoke the modern church to reevaluate the exclusion of women from religious authority. When presented with a scrap of papyrus with parts of eight lines of Coptic on it, she dropped all of her academic reserve and caution because one of them could be read to the effect that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. King saw the implications of this "discovery" as so important, so far-reaching, so earth-shaking that she allowed herself to become gullible to the forger of the fragment, dismissed her respected peers who urged caution, warmed to the spotlight, and failed to adequately investigate the provenance of the writing. It was a fake. Its shouted importance was a fraud. King's career was marred forever. The thing that mystifies me is that it was all unnecessary to her ends. The church is moving (albeit glacially) toward a reassessment of the proper role of women in faith and the church. It not only doesn't need this sort of light-weight Dan Brown/"DaVinci Code" type fantasy to get there but that path is actually hampered, obstructed, and impeded by them.
August 4, 2023
I really loved a lot of this, mostly because, well, if you’re at all involved in academia or premodern history, you will be shrieking at a lot of this (especially the stuff about ignoring provenance. Good lord, what’s wrong with people).
I do have some problems with the belittling of more postmodern approaches to religious history and religious studies, as an atheist intellectual historian profoundly influenced by theology and the ways in which theology is impacted by historical context. I get why that’s this author’s (a journalist) bugbear and how Karen King’s irresponsible approach to historical research and method led to this debacle in the first place. But there’s a time and place for the kinds of “what is truth when it comes to religion” questions that this author seems to think are universally irresponsible. Which is a long way to say that, essentially, I’m with Amy Hollywood.
I do have some problems with the belittling of more postmodern approaches to religious history and religious studies, as an atheist intellectual historian profoundly influenced by theology and the ways in which theology is impacted by historical context. I get why that’s this author’s (a journalist) bugbear and how Karen King’s irresponsible approach to historical research and method led to this debacle in the first place. But there’s a time and place for the kinds of “what is truth when it comes to religion” questions that this author seems to think are universally irresponsible. Which is a long way to say that, essentially, I’m with Amy Hollywood.
February 15, 2021
Absorbing. Riveting. When I say I could not put Veritas down, I truly mean it. The manner in which Sabar chose to organize and unfold this story is masterful, constantly keeping me asking, why, why would a person fall for this, do this, and as the chapters passed, that question was surely answered. Interweaved are so many surprising (sometimes shocking) details about the persons at the center of the tale, I sometimes shouted out to my husband. The religious-feminist-philosophical underpinnings of the Professor are also fascinating and thought provoking, as well as the politics of Harvard. I have and will continue to recommend this impressive work of investigative reporting.
February 19, 2020
Dr. Karen King, a well-respected professor at Harvard Divinity, announced to the attendees of a scholars conference, steps from the Vatican.
Someone had given her a scrap of an ancient papyrus where Jesus calls Mary Magdalene his wife. As you can imagine, this was huge. I know I followed this in the news because I had an interest in the Gnostic Gospels and what was and wasn't true. I never saw Mary of Magdala as a prostitute and I never found any corroboration of that.
Imagine if all these years later we find out Jesus had a wife. What? What a shakeup that would be for the Catholic Church especially. If he was married, why celibacy in the priesthood? Why no women in positions of power? There was a powerful uproar and King's reputation suffered. Was this piece a forgery and if so was King in on it?
Amid all of these questions, journalist Ariel Sabar started digging into the story. Where did the fragment come from? With impeccable research and detective skills, he brings us the story of King and the man who may or may not be a forger.
This was a brilliant look at the rivalries in academia. The hopes of King that there was an alternative to the bible out there that was more inclusive to women. I'll leave you to enjoy the mystery.
I am still mulling over questions this book brought up. And I'm sure I will be for a long time.
Well Done!
NetGalley/ August 11th, 2020 by Doubleday Books
Someone had given her a scrap of an ancient papyrus where Jesus calls Mary Magdalene his wife. As you can imagine, this was huge. I know I followed this in the news because I had an interest in the Gnostic Gospels and what was and wasn't true. I never saw Mary of Magdala as a prostitute and I never found any corroboration of that.
Imagine if all these years later we find out Jesus had a wife. What? What a shakeup that would be for the Catholic Church especially. If he was married, why celibacy in the priesthood? Why no women in positions of power? There was a powerful uproar and King's reputation suffered. Was this piece a forgery and if so was King in on it?
Amid all of these questions, journalist Ariel Sabar started digging into the story. Where did the fragment come from? With impeccable research and detective skills, he brings us the story of King and the man who may or may not be a forger.
This was a brilliant look at the rivalries in academia. The hopes of King that there was an alternative to the bible out there that was more inclusive to women. I'll leave you to enjoy the mystery.
I am still mulling over questions this book brought up. And I'm sure I will be for a long time.
Well Done!
NetGalley/ August 11th, 2020 by Doubleday Books
January 25, 2021
This is a stunningly well-written examination of the found “gospel of Jesus’s wife”, a fragment of papyrus thought to describe Mary Magdalene as that wife.
Sabar’s lengthy investigations and interviews for magazines like the Smithsonian and Atlantic make me want to run out and subscribe to them because this long form journalism is what we need now.
In figuring out the story behind the fragment, he travels to Europe and various places in the US. It’s exhaustive, his research, but he presents it here in extremely readable prose. I honestly couldn’t put it down, 300 pages plus...
Some eye-opening findings here, from academic hijinks to whatever it is going on in Florida. (Whew!). The close, almost incestuous, links between members of faculty in universities gives one pause about the veracity of any research.
Which is why books like this one need to be supported and published. And why double-blinded studies and publications should exist.
In this time of flexible truths and the altering of news, this highlights how easily people can act to promote an agenda. We are a gullible species...
So worth a read!
Ps: this is neither a pro- nor anti-religion book. It is an anti-flimflammery book. Safe for either side to read without getting feathers ruffled. Should be assigned reading for journalism students though it might drive them to despair about jobs in Twitter news...
Sabar’s lengthy investigations and interviews for magazines like the Smithsonian and Atlantic make me want to run out and subscribe to them because this long form journalism is what we need now.
In figuring out the story behind the fragment, he travels to Europe and various places in the US. It’s exhaustive, his research, but he presents it here in extremely readable prose. I honestly couldn’t put it down, 300 pages plus...
Some eye-opening findings here, from academic hijinks to whatever it is going on in Florida. (Whew!). The close, almost incestuous, links between members of faculty in universities gives one pause about the veracity of any research.
Which is why books like this one need to be supported and published. And why double-blinded studies and publications should exist.
In this time of flexible truths and the altering of news, this highlights how easily people can act to promote an agenda. We are a gullible species...
So worth a read!
Ps: this is neither a pro- nor anti-religion book. It is an anti-flimflammery book. Safe for either side to read without getting feathers ruffled. Should be assigned reading for journalism students though it might drive them to despair about jobs in Twitter news...
February 18, 2020
This is my favorite read of 2020 so far. The author has masterfully woven several well-researched pieces of investigative journalism together to create a complex exploration of human nature and perceptions and manipulations of truth. The people who figure in the creation, publication, and unmasking of the forged Gospel of Jesus' Wife are all presented even-handedly and in depth. Mr. Sabar seems interested in people above all else, and I enjoyed learning about the various personalities connected by interest in papyrology, early Christianity, Gnosticism, and Coptic writings.
The book takes several unexpected twists and turns. The discussion of the sub-genre of pornography practiced by one person in the story may be objectionable to some readers, and the frank description of an alleged sexual assault by a pedophile priest was quite upsetting to read. But these incidents do have a bearing on the character and possible motivations of one of the main subjects of the story.
A really excellent work of journalism and storytelling. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital ARC.
The book takes several unexpected twists and turns. The discussion of the sub-genre of pornography practiced by one person in the story may be objectionable to some readers, and the frank description of an alleged sexual assault by a pedophile priest was quite upsetting to read. But these incidents do have a bearing on the character and possible motivations of one of the main subjects of the story.
A really excellent work of journalism and storytelling. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital ARC.
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September 10, 2020Veritas, or Truth, is definitely stranger than fiction in this meticulously researched story of the veracity, or not, of the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" manuscript announced by renowned Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King in 2012. I found myself shaking my head at the bizarre trail author Ariel Sabar followed to try and understand the history of the papyrus fragment purporting to mention Jesus' wife. From experts in Egyptology and early papyrus dating, to experts in pornographic web sites, to experts in the history of Harvard Divinity School, Sabar uncovered the motivations leading to the announcement. Unfortunately, manipulation of opinion, money, revenge, relationships and salvaging of career and school seemed to be far more important than truth in the motivations of several key players. A fascinating trip down a long rabbit hole.
September 12, 2021
This is a superb bit of research which could be divided into three parts.
The first is a detailed account of the perpetration of frauds in the trading of ancient documents. If the level of care that a “distinguished” professor at the Harvard Divinity School took in exploring whether this papyrus fragment was legitimate is representative then the Academy is in serious trouble. Karen King, the holder (at the time) of the oldest endowed professorship in US Universities was sucked in by a con man (whose other sideline business was to run a couple of porno video sites). But as you read the story of King’s actions it is clear that she was entirely complicit in perpetrating this fraud.
The second is a good explanation of what a diligent reporter can accomplish on a complex story. Sabar was meticulous in his reporting. At the end of the book he goes through the energy he used to understand this story. The author went to extraordinary lengths to understand how this happened and what safeguards are in place to reduce the chance for these kinds of shenanigans.
The third, in my mind, is the most important. Professor King claimed to be a historian but what she actually was in this drama was an ideologue. She announced the find of this “revolutionary” piece of history. She rushed to announce this in Rome before any reasonable effort had been made to validate the age of the “Gospel of the Married Jesus” (and indeed she ignored a set of negative peer reviews of her “scholarly” article announcing her findings. When people began to question the provenance of the scrap she enlisted a couple of buddies to validate the findings, without ever saying that her judges were close friends. She contrived to stomp out a legitimate counterpoint to her “finding” in the first publication of the “research”.
King justified her actions with a clear bow toward critical theory. Harvard is a hotbed of that perverted brand of sophistry. Critical theorists argue that there is no objective reality so it is ok to pass this fraud off as real because it raises real issues that theologians should be thinking about. The fact of this scrap of doctored papyrus for King was not whether it was accurately described (it was not) or whether it actually dated to the period of the Gnostic gospels but whether it raised issues of power and authority in Christian thought.
There is one other side note that Sabar brings up which as a former academic that I found especially interesting. The role of religion/religious studies at Harvard has been a hotbed of discussion for a long time. Members of the LAS faculties questioned whether HDS was actually doing serious scholarship - in either philosophy or history. The (then) new president of Harvard began a process to re-evaluate the Divinity School and religious studies courses. King strategically used this fraudulent document to bring a spotlight on HDS which helped dampen the talk of transforming the disciplines at Harvard. Sabar deftly describes the current cross currents of academic politics.
In short the book works on many levels. I highly recommend it.
The first is a detailed account of the perpetration of frauds in the trading of ancient documents. If the level of care that a “distinguished” professor at the Harvard Divinity School took in exploring whether this papyrus fragment was legitimate is representative then the Academy is in serious trouble. Karen King, the holder (at the time) of the oldest endowed professorship in US Universities was sucked in by a con man (whose other sideline business was to run a couple of porno video sites). But as you read the story of King’s actions it is clear that she was entirely complicit in perpetrating this fraud.
The second is a good explanation of what a diligent reporter can accomplish on a complex story. Sabar was meticulous in his reporting. At the end of the book he goes through the energy he used to understand this story. The author went to extraordinary lengths to understand how this happened and what safeguards are in place to reduce the chance for these kinds of shenanigans.
The third, in my mind, is the most important. Professor King claimed to be a historian but what she actually was in this drama was an ideologue. She announced the find of this “revolutionary” piece of history. She rushed to announce this in Rome before any reasonable effort had been made to validate the age of the “Gospel of the Married Jesus” (and indeed she ignored a set of negative peer reviews of her “scholarly” article announcing her findings. When people began to question the provenance of the scrap she enlisted a couple of buddies to validate the findings, without ever saying that her judges were close friends. She contrived to stomp out a legitimate counterpoint to her “finding” in the first publication of the “research”.
King justified her actions with a clear bow toward critical theory. Harvard is a hotbed of that perverted brand of sophistry. Critical theorists argue that there is no objective reality so it is ok to pass this fraud off as real because it raises real issues that theologians should be thinking about. The fact of this scrap of doctored papyrus for King was not whether it was accurately described (it was not) or whether it actually dated to the period of the Gnostic gospels but whether it raised issues of power and authority in Christian thought.
There is one other side note that Sabar brings up which as a former academic that I found especially interesting. The role of religion/religious studies at Harvard has been a hotbed of discussion for a long time. Members of the LAS faculties questioned whether HDS was actually doing serious scholarship - in either philosophy or history. The (then) new president of Harvard began a process to re-evaluate the Divinity School and religious studies courses. King strategically used this fraudulent document to bring a spotlight on HDS which helped dampen the talk of transforming the disciplines at Harvard. Sabar deftly describes the current cross currents of academic politics.
In short the book works on many levels. I highly recommend it.
November 11, 2020
Fascinating, and well-written. Sabar's patient unmasking of the identity of the forger reads better than some fictional detective stories. Who would have thought papyrus scholarship could be so riveting?
Having narrated the main events, the book works along two lines. One is an investigation of the characters involved, the other, related, is an attempt to understand motive.
While he doesn't labour the point, his investigations uncover strange biographical similarities between forger and victim. The biographies are suggestive without being conclusive. But what is most interesting is the amount of evidence Sabar collects to suggest the forger didn't dupe an unwilling victim.
After all, academia has had its share of career breaking forgeries, and there are ways of authenticating ancient documents and people with the expertise to do it.
Why a distinguished scholar would be willing to announce to the world the discovery of such a radical artefact without thoroughly checking its authenticity is at the heart of the book. The simple answer is that King wanted to believe.
Sabar has two other answers. The first lies in Harvard's internal politics. The second in the way the case illuminates a theoretical approach to history which sees facts as 'tyrannical'. The truth's irrelevant if the story's good; good if it fulfils the needs of the people using it. It's a disturbing idea that Sabar punctures: A text is open to a variety of interpretations: a document is either authentic or not.
By the end of the book a porn site running con-man turned forger, who obviously has trouble telling the truth, appears more favourably than a Harvard Professor who doesn't seem to care about 'truth' if it gets in the way of her favourite theories.
Having narrated the main events, the book works along two lines. One is an investigation of the characters involved, the other, related, is an attempt to understand motive.
While he doesn't labour the point, his investigations uncover strange biographical similarities between forger and victim. The biographies are suggestive without being conclusive. But what is most interesting is the amount of evidence Sabar collects to suggest the forger didn't dupe an unwilling victim.
After all, academia has had its share of career breaking forgeries, and there are ways of authenticating ancient documents and people with the expertise to do it.
Why a distinguished scholar would be willing to announce to the world the discovery of such a radical artefact without thoroughly checking its authenticity is at the heart of the book. The simple answer is that King wanted to believe.
Sabar has two other answers. The first lies in Harvard's internal politics. The second in the way the case illuminates a theoretical approach to history which sees facts as 'tyrannical'. The truth's irrelevant if the story's good; good if it fulfils the needs of the people using it. It's a disturbing idea that Sabar punctures: A text is open to a variety of interpretations: a document is either authentic or not.
By the end of the book a porn site running con-man turned forger, who obviously has trouble telling the truth, appears more favourably than a Harvard Professor who doesn't seem to care about 'truth' if it gets in the way of her favourite theories.
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