Papyrus referring to Jesus having a wife was not forged, tests find

A scrap of ancient Egyptian papyrus, which refers to Jesus having been married, has been found to be authentic.

Scientific tests on the document, which was unveiled by Karen King, a Harvard academic, in September 2012 have found no evidence of the document having been forged.

She had presented the fragment at a six day conference in Rome, but significantly her contribution was not reported at the time by either the Vatican newspaper or Vatican radio.

The controversy hinged on four words, written in Coptic, which translated to “Jesus said to them, my wife’’.

Ms King, who helped translate the text, never asserted the text proved Jesus was married.

She said that it merely was a reference to issues of family and marriage which faced Christians at the time.

But despite this, the document was swiftly denounced as a fake by both Ms King’s academic peers and the Vatican in the furore that followed.

According to an article in the Harvard Theological Review the document was subjected to intensive testing which included matching the document to other papyri of around the same time.

The scientific research was carried out by academics - including biologists and chemists - from Harvard, Columbia University and MIT.

"Over the past two years, extensive testing of the papyrus and the carbon ink, as well as analysis of the handwriting and grammar, all indicate that the existing material fragment dates to between the sixth and ninth centuries CE (common era),” the review concluded.

“None of the testing has produced any evidence that the fragment is a modern fabrication or forgery."