The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Ancient Text that Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene

The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Ancient Text that Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene is a book published by investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici and Religious Studies historian Barrie Wilson in 2014.^[1] It contends that the 6th century manuscript commonly referred to as "Joseph and Aseneth" is really a disguised history. The book's assertions are not supported by mainstream Biblical scholarship.

Key claims

The book claims that Mary Magdalene was a Phoenician gentile and priestess modelled on the goddess Artemis, that she was venerated as the incarnate Artemis, being the wife and co-deity of the god Jesus modelled on Helios. The authors claim that the story of Joseph and Aseneth was already composed during Jesus' lifetime and precedes the canonical gospels.

The authors claim that it is a Christian rather than a Jewish text on the grounds that it was preserved and transmitted in the eastern Christian context of Syriac Christianity; and that it would be of no interest to monks if it were merely the story of an interracial marriage set in Patriarchal times. Moreover the narrative contains Christian terminology -- "Bride of God," "Son of God," and Eucharistic symbolism that would have no place within a Jewish context. Joseph and Aseneth is included in an anthology of 6th century manuscripts entitled A Volume of Records of Events that have Shaped the World. Without Christian import, the work would have no place in such a collection of such important writings as a narrative about Constantine's conversion, the finding of ancient relics and proof of immortality (The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus) among them.

The authors point out that work is prefaced by two letters indicating that the work contains "a hidden meaning" and that it is Christological in nature.

Using the interpretive methodology favored by Syriac Christian scholars -- typological analysis -- the authors decode the writing as having to do with Jesus (Joseph) and Mary Magdalene (Aseneth). The narrative then becomes the story of their courtship, marriage, the children they had and concludes with a plot against their lives (Joseph's two sons Ephraim and Manasseh figuratively representing the children of Jesus and Mary Magdalene).

It is also speculated that the writing portrays an early form of Christianity that paralleled the Jewish movement led by James (Jesus' brother), and that this movement may have paved the way for 2nd century Gnosticism.

Translation of the Syriac narrative and covering Letters

In addition to a detailed decoding of the narrative, the book provides the first-ever English translation of Joseph and Aseneth based on the oldest existing text, that is, the Syriac version of the 6th century which is itself based on an earlier Greek account -- how much earlier than the 6th century is open to speculation. Modern digital imaging techniques were used to decipher the text hidden by smudges and other marks, thus restoring the manuscript to its original state.

The Lost Gospel also provides the first-ever translation of the two covering letters which explain how the Syriac translation came to be. Around 550 an anonymous individual wrote to his friend, Moses of Ingila. He had come across a "small, very old" book called Of Aseneth in the library in Resh'aina belonging to the bishops who had originally come from Aleppo. Suspecting that it contained a hidden message, he asked Moses of Ingila to translate the work from Greek into Syriac, a language with which he was more familiar. Moses of Ingila obliged, sending him a Syriac translation and noting that it was a work of wisdom, the meaning of which had to be carefully discerned. As he started to indicate the hidden Christological meaning, the text of the covering letter is suddenly cut off, while at the same time confirming the truth of mainstream Christianity and Jesus Christ in his letter ^[2] perhaps deliberately so in antiquity according to the authors.

Reaction by biblical scholarship

The book has been dismissed by mainstream biblical scholarship. For example by Richard Bauckham.^[3] Both of the authors believe in the Jesus bloodline, the central part of the book's argument.

Israeli Biblical scholar, Rivka Nir wrote: "…despite the problematic thesis, this is a serious-minded, thought-provoking and interesting book, giving expression to an excellent knowledge of early Christian sources and the ability to analyze and integrate them into a clear and comprehensible picture. The book abounds with historical surveys and enlightening discussions on its sources, terms, characters and various period-related aspects….This book will certainly occupy a highly important place in the scholarly quest for the historical Jesus, as it raises the fundamental question: how far can scholars go in this quest and to what extent are their conclusions founded."^[4]

The Church of England compared The Lost Gospel to a Monty Python sketch. The director of communications for the Archbishop's council, stated the book was an example of religious illiteracy and that ever since the publication of The Da Vinci Code in 2003, "an industry had been constructed in which 'conspiracy theorists, satellite channel documentaries and opportunistic publishers had identified a lucrative income stream'."^[5]

Author Ross Shepard Kraemer complained that her book When Aseneth Met Joseph: A Late Antique Tale of the Biblical Patriarch and His Egyptian Wife, Reconsidered was distorted by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson (revised preface to the 2015 paperback edition).^[6]

The Lost Gospel was described as historical nonsense by Markus Bockmuehl.^[7]

References