What if J were gay? – Baptist News Global

Contents:

• J AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN
• WHAT IF J WERE GAY?
• 'WAS J GAY?’: THE CLASS UNVERG HIDN QUEER HISTORI
• WAS J GAY?
• WAS J GAY? PROBABLY
• ‘IF J WERE GAY’ BY EMANUEL XAVIER
• 7 REASONS J WAS GAY
• THE TWISTED FATE FOR MEN WHO CLAIMED J WAS GAYLOVE THY NEIGHBORWHILE THE MOST FAMO (AND MON) CLAIM IS THAT J HAD A RELATNSHIP WH MARY MAGDALENE, MAJOR WAV HAVE BEEN MA THROUGHOUT HISTORY ARGUG THAT J WAS GAY.CANDIDA MOSSUPDATED MAR. 23, 2020 4:57AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST/PIERO LLA FRANCON MAY 30, 1593, THE PLAYWRIGHT AND POET CHRISTOPHER “K” MARLOWE WAS FOUND BTALLY MURRED. ACRDG TO AN TOPSY REPORT AND SEVERAL EYEWNS REPORTS, MARLOWE HAD SPENT THE DAY AT THE HOE OF MRS. ELEANOR BULL DEPTFORD, SOUTH LONDON, BEFORE BEG FATALLY STABBED THE EYE. THE DAGGER STCK SLIGHTLY ABOVE HIS RIGHT EYE AND DROVE TWO CH TO HIS BRA. THOUGH HE WAS NOT EVEN 30, MARLOWE HAD ALREADY MA HIS IMPRSN ON THE ENGLISH LERATI WH HIS DOCTOR FST. HIS EXCLAMATN “WAS THIS THE FACE THAT LNCHED A THOAND SHIPS?” LIV ON LERARY AND POP-CULTURAL FOLKLORE EVEN TODAY. SO, WHO WOULD WANT TO KILL HIM? QUE A FEW PEOPLE, AS TURNED OUT, AND NSPIRACY THEORI ABOUND. ONE EXPLANATN IS THAT MARLOWE’S ATHEISM AND HIS SNDALO BELIEF THAT J WAS A HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIP WH THE DISCIPLE JOHN PLAYED A ROLE HIS MISE. IF RRECT, THIS WOULD MAKE MARLOWE ONE OF A CLTER OF DIVIDUALS WHO HAVE FACED STRONG, SOMETIM FATAL, OPPOSN FOR ASKG QUTNS ABOUT THE SEXUALY OF J.THE MORE NVENTNAL-YET-INOCLASTIC THEORY ABOUT J’S ROMANTIC LIFE IS THAT HE WAS A RELATNSHIP WH MARY MAGDALENE. SOME SAY THEY WERE EVEN MARRIED. THIS THEORY IS MOST FAMOLY ARTICULATED THE BTSELLG DA VCI CO BUT THERE ARE SOME AMICS WHO HAVE MA SIAR CLAIMS. ONE MAN, WALTER FRZ, EVEN FED AN ANCIENT DOCUMENT TO TRY TO ADD WEIGHT TO THE CLAIM THAT J AND MARY WERE MARRIED. THERE IS SOME GOOD EVINCE FOR THKG THAT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN MARY MAGDALENE AND J WAS PLAYED DOWN BY LATER CHRISTIAN THORS, BUT THERE’S NOTHG THE EARLIT TRADN THAT NCRETELY SUGGTS THEIR RELATNSHIP WAS ROMANTIC.   NEWSLETTERSBEAST TRAVEL DIGTGET THE ENTIRE WORLD YOUR BOX.SUBSCRIBEBY CLICKG "SUBSCRIBE" YOU AGREE TO HAVE READ THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY WHAT THIS POPULAR NSPIRACY THEORY NVENIENTLY OVERLOOKS IS THE TENSY OF J’S RELATNSHIPS WH HIS RE GROUP OF DISCIPL. THE CLOSE RELATNSHIP OF J AND THE “BELOVED DISCIPLE” (TRADNALLY INTIFIED AS JOHN THE EVANGELIST) HAS LED SOME TO SUGGT THAT THEIR RELATNSHIP WAS HOMOEROTIC. THE EVINCE IS SUGGTIVE; AFTER ALL THERE IS A DISCIPLE WHO IS REPEATEDLY SCRIBED AS A PERSON WHOM J “LOV.” THERE’S A NVERSATN BETWEEN J AND PETER WHICH J ASKS PETER THREE TIM IF HE LOV HIM AND, WHEN PETER RPONDS, ASKS HIM TO RE FOR HIS FLOCK (JOHN 21:15-17). A MAN WHO SPENDS MOST OF HIS PERSONAL TIME ALONE WH 12 OTHER MEN? YOU MIGHT SAY THAT THERE’S SOMETHG CREDIBLY HETERONORMATIVE ABOUT THKG THAT J WAS TERTED MARY MAGDALENE.WHILE THE SCRIPTURAL TEXTS SOUND QUE SUGGTIVE ENGLISH, THE EROTICISM EVAPORAT OUT OF THE NVERSATN WHEN YOU READ THE ORIGAL GREEK. GREEK HAS MULTIPLE WORDS TO SCRIBE DIFFERENT KDS OF LOVE. AND, AS ISMO DUNRBERG, A PROFSOR OF NEW TTAMENT AT THE UNIVERSY OF HELSKI, HAS SHOWN, THE GREEK DO NOT SUGGT EROTIC RELATNSHIPS. IN JOHN 21 THE WORD J IS “AGAPE” A WORD THAT NNOT BROAD AFFECTN AND RE FOR OTHERS. THE WORD FOR SEXUAL LOVE OR SIRE IS “EROS” (OM WHICH WE GET THE ENGLISH WORD “EROTIC”), BUT THAT LANGUAGE IS NEVER ED TO SCRIBE J’ LOVE FOR ANY OF HIS PANNS.BUT IF JT SPENDG TIME TOGETHER IS ENOUGH TO BUILD A WHOLE THEORY ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN J AND MARY MAGDALENE, THEN CERTALY THE ARGUMENT J WAS SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS WH OTHER MEN HAS AT LEAST AS MUCH PLSIBILY? FOR MARLOWE, AN OUTSPOKEN CRIC OF ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND’S STRONG PROHIBNS AGAST HOMOSEXUALY ( WAS A PAL CRIME), THERE WAS SUFFICIENT EVINCE OF HOMOEROTICISM. THE SAME MONTH THAT MARLOWE DIED A POLICE RMANT AND ON-AND OFF-SPY RICHARD BA PILED A DOCUMENT OF K’S “MONSTRO OPNS.” THE POT OF THE BA NOTE, AS HISTORIAN AND THOR CHARL NICHOLL HAS WRTEN, WAS “TO CRIMATE MARLOWE.” ACRDG TO BA, MARLOWE WAS AN ATHEIST WHO DOUBTED THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, THOUGHT THE BIBLE WAS “FILTHILY [I.E. POORLY] WRTEN,” AND BELIEVED THAT THE SACRAMENT OF MUNN WOULD BE GREATLY IMPROVED IF THE BREAD AND WE WAS REPLACED WH A TOBAC PIPE. HIS MOST SHOCKG STATEMENT, HOWEVER, WAS THAT “ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST WAS BEDFELLOW TO CHRIST AND LEANED ALWAYS HIS BOSOM, THAT HE ED HIM AS THE SNERS OF SODOM.” THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF LEANG TO THE BOSOM IS ACTUALLY ANCIENT AND IS ED THE WRGS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY CHURCH HISTORIAN EEBI WHO SCRIBED JOHN AS “THE ONE WHO LAY ON [J’] BREAST.” IN ANCIENT TEXTS THIS IS AN IMAGE FOR NON-SEXUAL TIMACY, BUT YOU N SEE WHAT MARLOWE WAS GETTG AT.MARLOWE WASN’T THE ONLY RENAISSANCE-ERA FIGURE TO ASK QUTNS ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN J AND JOHN. JT 40 YEARS EARLIER A YOUNG VEIAN IAR NAMED FRANC CALGNO WAS EXECUTED FOR BLASPHEMY FOR CLAIMG THAT JOHN WAS J’ TAME (A PUBCENT BOY WHO ENGAGED A SEXUAL RELATNSHIP WH AN OLR MAN). FOR CALGNO, LIKE MARLOWE, HIS BELIEFS ABOUT J’ SEXUALY ARE NNECTED TO A PARTICULAR FORM OF 16TH CENTURY ATHEISM THAT FOCED ON THE IA THAT J WAS HUMAN. HE APPARENTLY SAID THAT CHRIST “WAS MERELY HUMAN, AND THAT HE OFTEN HAD RNAL KNOWLEDGE OF ST. JOHN,” THAT HE HAD MORE NFINCE THE LAT POET OVID THAN THE BIBLE, AND “THAT HE WOULD RATHER WORSHIP A PRETTY LTLE BOY THE FLH THAN GOD.” ONE OF CALGNO’S ACQUATANC TTIFIED AT HIS TRIAL THAT CALGNO SLEPT WH A BOY “ALMOST EVERY NIGHT” BUT ’S UNCLEAR IF THIS WAS SLANR. IN 1550, AT THE AGE OF 22, CALGNO WAS TERROGATED BRCIA, AND WAS EXECUTED VENICE TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS.MORE THAN ONE NEW TTAMENT SCHOLAR HAS SHARED MARLOWE AND CALGNO’S VIEW THAT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IS RIPE FOR HOMOEROTIC READGS. SJEF VON TILB, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS WRTEN THAT “ACRDG TO MORN DISURSE” THE FOURTH GOSPEL IS “POSIVELY ATTUNED TO THE VELOPMENT OF POSSIBLY HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR.” BUT THE KDS OF SCHOLARLY NFIRMATNS PALE NEXT TO COLUMBIA ANCIENT HISTORIAN MORTON SMH’S EXPLOSIVE 1960 ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE HAD DISVERED A “SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK.” TWO YEARS EARLIER, SMH CLAIMED, HE HAD DISVERED A PREVLY UNKNOWN LETTER WRTEN BY THE LATE SEND/EARLY THIRD CENTURY THEOLOGIAN AND TEACHER CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA THE GREEK ORTHODOX MAR SABA MONASTERY, 20 KILOMETERS TO THE SOUTH-EAST OF JESALEM. SMH PHOTOGRAPHED THE LETTER AND PUBLISHED HIS STUDY OF THE TEXT 1973.WHAT SHOCKED THE WORLD WAS THE NTENTS OF THE LETTER WHICH CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA SCRIBED AS AN EXTEND VERSN OF THE GOSPEL OF MARK. IN THIS VERSN J RAIS A YOUNG MAN OM THE AD AND THGS GET TERTG OM THERE ON. QUOTG WORD FOR WORD, THE SECRET GOSPEL READS: “BUT THE YOUTH, LOOKG UPON [J], LOVED HIM AND BEGAN TO BEECH HIM THAT HE MIGHT BE WH HIM. AND GOG OUT OF THE TOMB, THEY ME TO THE HOE OF THE YOUTH, FOR HE WAS RICH. AND AFTER SIX DAYS J TOLD HIM WHAT TO DO, AND THE EVENG THE YOUTH TO HIM, WEARG A LEN CLOTH OVER HIS NAKED BODY. AND HE REMAED WH HIM THAT NIGHT, FOR J TGHT HIM THE MYSTERY OF THE KGDOM OF GOD. AND THENCE, ARISG, HE RETURNED TO THE OTHER SI OF THE JORDAN.” THERE’S NOTHG EXPLIC ABOUT A SEXUAL ENUNTER BETWEEN J AND THE YOUNG MAN, BUT THE REAR DON’T GET THE IMPRSN THAT THEY SPENT THE NIGHT JT CHATTG, EHER.AS YOU MIGHT IMAGE, THE DISVERY OF THIS SECRET GOSPEL SHOCKED THE WORLD AND DIVID AMICS. SOME BELIEVED THAT SMH HAD FED THE DOCUMENT, AND OTHERS FEND SMH’S IMPECBLE REPUTATN AS A SCHOLAR. SOME OF THE ACCATNS OF FERY TURNED PERSONAL WH SOME ACCG SMH, HIMSELF A GAY MAN, OF FG THE LETTER HIMSELF. THE MOST SUGGTIVE EVINCE WAS THAT THE ORIGAL LETTER, PHOTOGRAPHED BY SMH, HAD BEEN LOST (FOR ALMOST 60 YEARS NOW!) AND WHOUT THAT DOCUMENT THERE IS NO WAY TO TT S THENTICY G SCIENTIFIC MEANS. THE WEIGHT OF THE CURRENT EVINCE SUGGTS THAT IS A FERY, AS SCHOLAR STEPHEN CARLSON CLEARLY ARGUED HIS THE GOSPEL HOAX, BUT FOR MANY THE JURY IS STILL OUT. IF HE DIDN’T FE THE TEXT WHAT PETER JEFEY LLS “AN ASTOUNDGLY DARG ACT OF CREATIVE REBELLN” THEN THIS ENORMOLY EDE AND DISTGUISHED SCHOLAR WAS LLED A FER PURELY ON THE BASIS OF HIS PERSONAL LIFE.WHAT’S TERTG ABOUT THE ATTACKS ON THOSE WHO HAVE QUTNED THE PRUMPTIVE HETEROSEXUALY OF J IS HOW QUICKLY THEY ARE NNECTED TO THE PERSONAL LIV OF THOSE ASKG QUTNS. THE SEX LIV OF CALGNO, MARLOWE, AND SMH HAVE ENTERED THE NVERSATN WAYS THAT THE SEXUAL ORIENTATN OF THOSE WHO THK J AND MARY MAGDALENE WERE MARRIED HAS NOT. TO MY KNOWLEDGE, NO ONE HAS EVER SAID THAT DAN BROWN IS BIASED BEE HE’S HETEROSEXUALLY PARTNERED. IN NEW TTAMENT SCHOLARSHIP THERE’S AN ALMOST CLICHéD OBSERVATN THAT EVERY SCHOLAR SE THEMSELV J: IF YOU’RE A LIBERAL J IS A LIBERAL, IF YOU’RE A FEMIST J IS A FEMIST, AND SO ON. “BUT,” AS TAYLOR PETREY AN ASSOCIATE PROFSOR OF EARLY CHRISTIANY AT KALAMAZOO COLLEGE, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST, “WHEN TO J’S SEXUALY THE SCHOLARS WHO ARGUE FOR A NON-NORMATIVE J HAVE BEEN PUNISHED PECIALLY HARSHLY, WHILE THOSE WHO ARGUE THAT J LIVED A NVENTNAL LIFE OF MARRIAGE HAVE BEEN TREATED AS DISPASSNATE OBSERVERS.”THE REASON FOR THIS, PETREY OBSERVED, IS THAT “J’S SEXUALY IS MORE THAN JT A HISTORIL QUTN. IT SUPPOSEDLY THORIZ OR UNTHORIZ CERTA KDS OF RELATNSHIPS AND SEXUAL EXPRSNS.” FOR RELIG LEARS, PECIALLY THOSE NOMATNS THAT SEE HOMOSEXUALY AS A S OR “TRSILLY DISORRED,” THE ASSUMED HETEROSEXUALY OF J IS EASY TO EXPLA: RNATE GOODNS NNOT BE DISORRED. BUT ’S NOT SO CLEAR WHY OTHERS ASSUME THAT J WAS HETEROSEXUAL, PECIALLY WHEN SCRIPTURAL EVINCE SCRIB ONLY HIS CELIBACY AND NOT HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN. IN TTH, AS PETREY SAYS, “THE AMBIGUY OF THE EVINCE OF J’S SEXUALY IS ENTICG TO SPECULATE ABOUT NOT JT BEE IS AN UNANSWERABLE MYSTERY, BUT BEE WE TEND TO THK THAT THE ANSWER UNLOCKS SOME GREAT TTH ABOUT RELIGN, SEX, AND OURSELV.” CANDIDA MOSS
• WAS J GAY?—AN EXAMATN OF THE SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK
• WAS J GAY? DON IM RAIS QUTN ABOUT CHRIST'S SEXUALY IN THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS

J AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN

It seems clear now that this is ls a negative repudiatn of fay and more a posive exhortatn to jo affirmatn of a gay liftyle and is at least one new parable, that of the two young men.

Before, one might have thought that, given Mary's virgy, Joseph's attu was reflectg the ambigui of his stat the fay; but now seems more probable that we have here a classic example of the Frdian triangle: over-posssive mother, hostile father, gay have we known so ltle about all of this before? The classilly ted Pl, who was himself gay, saw that same-sex activy was imil to the succs of Christiany the highly homophobic societi which he lived.

At one pot Berry stated, “When I nsir the hostily of polil church to homosexualy and homosexual marriage, I do so rememberg the history of Christian war, torture, terror, slavery and annihilatn agast Jews, Mlims, black Ains, Amerin Indians and others. What if J said, “When I was hungry, you fed me; when I was naked, you clothed me; when I was the homosexual, you weled me.

WHAT IF J WERE GAY?

For those objectg to the issue of homosexualy I challenge you to seek out tn and relatnship wh those intifyg as homosexual.

But for those that object and cree that God nnot or do not love homosexuals, listen only to the words of J, “Get behd me Satan. This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has shown himself to be a progrsive lear when to, among other thgs, gay Catholics. As a biblil scholar, I would suggt that church lears who e their cultur and theology to exclu homosexuals don’t read Scripture refully.

Those who would exclu homosexuals om God’s kgdom choose to ignore J, turng stead to the Old Ttament – most particularly to Genis 19, the stctn of the ci of Sodom and Gomorrah.

'WAS J GAY?’: THE CLASS UNVERG HIDN QUEER HISTORI

Levic 18:22 and 20:13, for example, are not about “homosexualy” as we now unrstand – as the rg, lovg and sexual relatnship between people of the same sex. Christians – no matter which church they belong to – should follow Pl and extend to the heterosexual-homosexual distctn.

The article was ocsned by a story about a gay teenager Oh who was sug his high school after school officials prohibed him om wearg a T-shirt that said, “J Is Not a Homophobe. While ’s reasonable to assume that J and his fellow Jews first-century Palte would have disapproved of gay sex, there is no rerd of his ever havg mentned homosexualy, let alone exprsed particular revulsn about ....

Wh clary and passn, this book sets forth the Bible’s teachg on sexualy om a plementarian perspective, alg wh ntroversial issu such as homosexualy and polygamy. After the Supreme Court's historic lg on gay marriage, seemed like all the proudly homophobic Christians me out of the woodwork to talk about how much they still hate gay people. As a straight Jew, the homophobia amongst J's followers has always stck me as a b of a surprise: Worshippg at the feet of a ripped, hung man, seems at least a ltle homoerotic.

WAS J GAY?

Reverend Bob Shore-Goss, an openly gay senr pastor, has wrten several books on the subject, cludg Queerg Christ and J ACTED UP: A Gay and Lbian Manifto.

He holds a doctorate gree Comparative Relign om Harvard, and he serv on the Natnal Advisory Board of the Center for Lbian and Gay Studi Relign.

I got touch wh Reverend Goss, who laid out the Biblil evince and explaed how his theory plays by Flickr er Wag for the World VICE: Was J Christ gay? Pl, I would say, would probably be scribed as a closeted homosexual today, but they didn't have those words at the was homosexualy perceived J's time? Now, homoerotic relatnships the ancient world are really mon, pecially the Greek and Roman J himself ever addrs that?

WAS J GAY? PROBABLY

" J says about the fah of the Centurn, who is a homoerotic relatnship, that "there is no greater fah than I've enuntered Israel. But a church of the send century would unrstand that this is a homosexual relatnship and wasn't a big what evince is there the bible of J's homosexualy? But what this has to say is that there was some sort of homoerotic relatnship, a love seems that, like anythg else the Bible, you n draw your own nclns, cludg that J was gay.

Even evangelils will say that J was perfect so that, orr to be saved for evangelils, you mt be heterosexual to be VICE News: Tears, Lghter, and Triumph for a Lbian Couple the Supreme Court's Gay Marriage CaseBut if J was gay, and he was perfect, then really 's only the gay people that are gog to heaven, right? I want to say that all sexuali are an origal blsg bee we're ma the image of I'm gettg om this the most is that J, as a queer human dividual, uld at least relate to the stggle of gay men—feelg like outsts, havg vlence perpetrated on them for their queerns, whatever may be.

‘IF J WERE GAY’ BY EMANUEL XAVIER

Yeah, I'd say that you're absolutely on solid ground wh your if J wasn't gay, I image he'd certaly feel more kship wh the mory of homosexuals than the heteronormative Christians who preach hate. And often tim they're vehement about bee they have so much ternalized homophobia, which dit to me that they have those same attractns to the same sex that they need to stamp them out other people. J was timate wh the disciple John, so apparently that was enough evince that the rpenter om Nazareth was homosexual.

There are probably other ways to fight for gay rights wh the church, and greater society, whout qutng the sexualy of J. He's aware that his op-ed askg whether J was gay or not is to the Christian muny what the say The Daily Mail by Brish blon Samantha Brick was to women.

7 REASONS J WAS GAY

I jt remember that their Christian stunts would e to Antch and try to nvert the homosexuals and radils to Christiany. So me and my iend, then a journalism major, went to their mp and sat down their feteria and started talkg to them and I remember brgg up this issue of "what if J was gay".

They were movg by fah, I gus, and not really open to nsirg , though they all agreed among themselv that homosexualy was wrong. Discsg jt rais the qutn: should homosexuals be treated wh digny and rpect, both and outsi of the Christian muny, or any muny for that matter, and the answer to that qutn at least, is y. This term do not refer exclively to a sexual inty (like gay), refers to a qutng of settled and fixed tegori of inty, not acceptg the given orrs or stctur of plac that people hab.

I felt I uld not pe the sufferg of gay and lbian people at the hands of the church, over many that divisive issue a subject for Good Friday?

THE TWISTED FATE FOR MEN WHO CLAIMED J WAS GAYLOVE THY NEIGHBORWHILE THE MOST FAMO (AND MON) CLAIM IS THAT J HAD A RELATNSHIP WH MARY MAGDALENE, MAJOR WAV HAVE BEEN MA THROUGHOUT HISTORY ARGUG THAT J WAS GAY.CANDIDA MOSSUPDATED MAR. 23, 2020 4:57AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST/PIERO LLA FRANCON MAY 30, 1593, THE PLAYWRIGHT AND POET CHRISTOPHER “K” MARLOWE WAS FOUND BTALLY MURRED. ACRDG TO AN TOPSY REPORT AND SEVERAL EYEWNS REPORTS, MARLOWE HAD SPENT THE DAY AT THE HOE OF MRS. ELEANOR BULL DEPTFORD, SOUTH LONDON, BEFORE BEG FATALLY STABBED THE EYE. THE DAGGER STCK SLIGHTLY ABOVE HIS RIGHT EYE AND DROVE TWO CH TO HIS BRA. THOUGH HE WAS NOT EVEN 30, MARLOWE HAD ALREADY MA HIS IMPRSN ON THE ENGLISH LERATI WH HIS DOCTOR FST. HIS EXCLAMATN “WAS THIS THE FACE THAT LNCHED A THOAND SHIPS?” LIV ON LERARY AND POP-CULTURAL FOLKLORE EVEN TODAY. SO, WHO WOULD WANT TO KILL HIM? QUE A FEW PEOPLE, AS TURNED OUT, AND NSPIRACY THEORI ABOUND. ONE EXPLANATN IS THAT MARLOWE’S ATHEISM AND HIS SNDALO BELIEF THAT J WAS A HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIP WH THE DISCIPLE JOHN PLAYED A ROLE HIS MISE. IF RRECT, THIS WOULD MAKE MARLOWE ONE OF A CLTER OF DIVIDUALS WHO HAVE FACED STRONG, SOMETIM FATAL, OPPOSN FOR ASKG QUTNS ABOUT THE SEXUALY OF J.THE MORE NVENTNAL-YET-INOCLASTIC THEORY ABOUT J’S ROMANTIC LIFE IS THAT HE WAS A RELATNSHIP WH MARY MAGDALENE. SOME SAY THEY WERE EVEN MARRIED. THIS THEORY IS MOST FAMOLY ARTICULATED THE BTSELLG DA VCI CO BUT THERE ARE SOME AMICS WHO HAVE MA SIAR CLAIMS. ONE MAN, WALTER FRZ, EVEN FED AN ANCIENT DOCUMENT TO TRY TO ADD WEIGHT TO THE CLAIM THAT J AND MARY WERE MARRIED. THERE IS SOME GOOD EVINCE FOR THKG THAT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN MARY MAGDALENE AND J WAS PLAYED DOWN BY LATER CHRISTIAN THORS, BUT THERE’S NOTHG THE EARLIT TRADN THAT NCRETELY SUGGTS THEIR RELATNSHIP WAS ROMANTIC.   NEWSLETTERSBEAST TRAVEL DIGTGET THE ENTIRE WORLD YOUR BOX.SUBSCRIBEBY CLICKG "SUBSCRIBE" YOU AGREE TO HAVE READ THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY WHAT THIS POPULAR NSPIRACY THEORY NVENIENTLY OVERLOOKS IS THE TENSY OF J’S RELATNSHIPS WH HIS RE GROUP OF DISCIPL. THE CLOSE RELATNSHIP OF J AND THE “BELOVED DISCIPLE” (TRADNALLY INTIFIED AS JOHN THE EVANGELIST) HAS LED SOME TO SUGGT THAT THEIR RELATNSHIP WAS HOMOEROTIC. THE EVINCE IS SUGGTIVE; AFTER ALL THERE IS A DISCIPLE WHO IS REPEATEDLY SCRIBED AS A PERSON WHOM J “LOV.” THERE’S A NVERSATN BETWEEN J AND PETER WHICH J ASKS PETER THREE TIM IF HE LOV HIM AND, WHEN PETER RPONDS, ASKS HIM TO RE FOR HIS FLOCK (JOHN 21:15-17). A MAN WHO SPENDS MOST OF HIS PERSONAL TIME ALONE WH 12 OTHER MEN? YOU MIGHT SAY THAT THERE’S SOMETHG CREDIBLY HETERONORMATIVE ABOUT THKG THAT J WAS TERTED MARY MAGDALENE.WHILE THE SCRIPTURAL TEXTS SOUND QUE SUGGTIVE ENGLISH, THE EROTICISM EVAPORAT OUT OF THE NVERSATN WHEN YOU READ THE ORIGAL GREEK. GREEK HAS MULTIPLE WORDS TO SCRIBE DIFFERENT KDS OF LOVE. AND, AS ISMO DUNRBERG, A PROFSOR OF NEW TTAMENT AT THE UNIVERSY OF HELSKI, HAS SHOWN, THE GREEK DO NOT SUGGT EROTIC RELATNSHIPS. IN JOHN 21 THE WORD J IS “AGAPE” A WORD THAT NNOT BROAD AFFECTN AND RE FOR OTHERS. THE WORD FOR SEXUAL LOVE OR SIRE IS “EROS” (OM WHICH WE GET THE ENGLISH WORD “EROTIC”), BUT THAT LANGUAGE IS NEVER ED TO SCRIBE J’ LOVE FOR ANY OF HIS PANNS.BUT IF JT SPENDG TIME TOGETHER IS ENOUGH TO BUILD A WHOLE THEORY ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN J AND MARY MAGDALENE, THEN CERTALY THE ARGUMENT J WAS SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS WH OTHER MEN HAS AT LEAST AS MUCH PLSIBILY? FOR MARLOWE, AN OUTSPOKEN CRIC OF ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND’S STRONG PROHIBNS AGAST HOMOSEXUALY ( WAS A PAL CRIME), THERE WAS SUFFICIENT EVINCE OF HOMOEROTICISM. THE SAME MONTH THAT MARLOWE DIED A POLICE RMANT AND ON-AND OFF-SPY RICHARD BA PILED A DOCUMENT OF K’S “MONSTRO OPNS.” THE POT OF THE BA NOTE, AS HISTORIAN AND THOR CHARL NICHOLL HAS WRTEN, WAS “TO CRIMATE MARLOWE.” ACRDG TO BA, MARLOWE WAS AN ATHEIST WHO DOUBTED THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, THOUGHT THE BIBLE WAS “FILTHILY [I.E. POORLY] WRTEN,” AND BELIEVED THAT THE SACRAMENT OF MUNN WOULD BE GREATLY IMPROVED IF THE BREAD AND WE WAS REPLACED WH A TOBAC PIPE. HIS MOST SHOCKG STATEMENT, HOWEVER, WAS THAT “ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST WAS BEDFELLOW TO CHRIST AND LEANED ALWAYS HIS BOSOM, THAT HE ED HIM AS THE SNERS OF SODOM.” THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF LEANG TO THE BOSOM IS ACTUALLY ANCIENT AND IS ED THE WRGS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY CHURCH HISTORIAN EEBI WHO SCRIBED JOHN AS “THE ONE WHO LAY ON [J’] BREAST.” IN ANCIENT TEXTS THIS IS AN IMAGE FOR NON-SEXUAL TIMACY, BUT YOU N SEE WHAT MARLOWE WAS GETTG AT.MARLOWE WASN’T THE ONLY RENAISSANCE-ERA FIGURE TO ASK QUTNS ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN J AND JOHN. JT 40 YEARS EARLIER A YOUNG VEIAN IAR NAMED FRANC CALGNO WAS EXECUTED FOR BLASPHEMY FOR CLAIMG THAT JOHN WAS J’ TAME (A PUBCENT BOY WHO ENGAGED A SEXUAL RELATNSHIP WH AN OLR MAN). FOR CALGNO, LIKE MARLOWE, HIS BELIEFS ABOUT J’ SEXUALY ARE NNECTED TO A PARTICULAR FORM OF 16TH CENTURY ATHEISM THAT FOCED ON THE IA THAT J WAS HUMAN. HE APPARENTLY SAID THAT CHRIST “WAS MERELY HUMAN, AND THAT HE OFTEN HAD RNAL KNOWLEDGE OF ST. JOHN,” THAT HE HAD MORE NFINCE THE LAT POET OVID THAN THE BIBLE, AND “THAT HE WOULD RATHER WORSHIP A PRETTY LTLE BOY THE FLH THAN GOD.” ONE OF CALGNO’S ACQUATANC TTIFIED AT HIS TRIAL THAT CALGNO SLEPT WH A BOY “ALMOST EVERY NIGHT” BUT ’S UNCLEAR IF THIS WAS SLANR. IN 1550, AT THE AGE OF 22, CALGNO WAS TERROGATED BRCIA, AND WAS EXECUTED VENICE TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS.MORE THAN ONE NEW TTAMENT SCHOLAR HAS SHARED MARLOWE AND CALGNO’S VIEW THAT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IS RIPE FOR HOMOEROTIC READGS. SJEF VON TILB, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS WRTEN THAT “ACRDG TO MORN DISURSE” THE FOURTH GOSPEL IS “POSIVELY ATTUNED TO THE VELOPMENT OF POSSIBLY HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR.” BUT THE KDS OF SCHOLARLY NFIRMATNS PALE NEXT TO COLUMBIA ANCIENT HISTORIAN MORTON SMH’S EXPLOSIVE 1960 ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE HAD DISVERED A “SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK.” TWO YEARS EARLIER, SMH CLAIMED, HE HAD DISVERED A PREVLY UNKNOWN LETTER WRTEN BY THE LATE SEND/EARLY THIRD CENTURY THEOLOGIAN AND TEACHER CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA THE GREEK ORTHODOX MAR SABA MONASTERY, 20 KILOMETERS TO THE SOUTH-EAST OF JESALEM. SMH PHOTOGRAPHED THE LETTER AND PUBLISHED HIS STUDY OF THE TEXT 1973.WHAT SHOCKED THE WORLD WAS THE NTENTS OF THE LETTER WHICH CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA SCRIBED AS AN EXTEND VERSN OF THE GOSPEL OF MARK. IN THIS VERSN J RAIS A YOUNG MAN OM THE AD AND THGS GET TERTG OM THERE ON. QUOTG WORD FOR WORD, THE SECRET GOSPEL READS: “BUT THE YOUTH, LOOKG UPON [J], LOVED HIM AND BEGAN TO BEECH HIM THAT HE MIGHT BE WH HIM. AND GOG OUT OF THE TOMB, THEY ME TO THE HOE OF THE YOUTH, FOR HE WAS RICH. AND AFTER SIX DAYS J TOLD HIM WHAT TO DO, AND THE EVENG THE YOUTH TO HIM, WEARG A LEN CLOTH OVER HIS NAKED BODY. AND HE REMAED WH HIM THAT NIGHT, FOR J TGHT HIM THE MYSTERY OF THE KGDOM OF GOD. AND THENCE, ARISG, HE RETURNED TO THE OTHER SI OF THE JORDAN.” THERE’S NOTHG EXPLIC ABOUT A SEXUAL ENUNTER BETWEEN J AND THE YOUNG MAN, BUT THE REAR DON’T GET THE IMPRSN THAT THEY SPENT THE NIGHT JT CHATTG, EHER.AS YOU MIGHT IMAGE, THE DISVERY OF THIS SECRET GOSPEL SHOCKED THE WORLD AND DIVID AMICS. SOME BELIEVED THAT SMH HAD FED THE DOCUMENT, AND OTHERS FEND SMH’S IMPECBLE REPUTATN AS A SCHOLAR. SOME OF THE ACCATNS OF FERY TURNED PERSONAL WH SOME ACCG SMH, HIMSELF A GAY MAN, OF FG THE LETTER HIMSELF. THE MOST SUGGTIVE EVINCE WAS THAT THE ORIGAL LETTER, PHOTOGRAPHED BY SMH, HAD BEEN LOST (FOR ALMOST 60 YEARS NOW!) AND WHOUT THAT DOCUMENT THERE IS NO WAY TO TT S THENTICY G SCIENTIFIC MEANS. THE WEIGHT OF THE CURRENT EVINCE SUGGTS THAT IS A FERY, AS SCHOLAR STEPHEN CARLSON CLEARLY ARGUED HIS THE GOSPEL HOAX, BUT FOR MANY THE JURY IS STILL OUT. IF HE DIDN’T FE THE TEXT WHAT PETER JEFEY LLS “AN ASTOUNDGLY DARG ACT OF CREATIVE REBELLN” THEN THIS ENORMOLY EDE AND DISTGUISHED SCHOLAR WAS LLED A FER PURELY ON THE BASIS OF HIS PERSONAL LIFE.WHAT’S TERTG ABOUT THE ATTACKS ON THOSE WHO HAVE QUTNED THE PRUMPTIVE HETEROSEXUALY OF J IS HOW QUICKLY THEY ARE NNECTED TO THE PERSONAL LIV OF THOSE ASKG QUTNS. THE SEX LIV OF CALGNO, MARLOWE, AND SMH HAVE ENTERED THE NVERSATN WAYS THAT THE SEXUAL ORIENTATN OF THOSE WHO THK J AND MARY MAGDALENE WERE MARRIED HAS NOT. TO MY KNOWLEDGE, NO ONE HAS EVER SAID THAT DAN BROWN IS BIASED BEE HE’S HETEROSEXUALLY PARTNERED. IN NEW TTAMENT SCHOLARSHIP THERE’S AN ALMOST CLICHéD OBSERVATN THAT EVERY SCHOLAR SE THEMSELV J: IF YOU’RE A LIBERAL J IS A LIBERAL, IF YOU’RE A FEMIST J IS A FEMIST, AND SO ON. “BUT,” AS TAYLOR PETREY AN ASSOCIATE PROFSOR OF EARLY CHRISTIANY AT KALAMAZOO COLLEGE, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST, “WHEN TO J’S SEXUALY THE SCHOLARS WHO ARGUE FOR A NON-NORMATIVE J HAVE BEEN PUNISHED PECIALLY HARSHLY, WHILE THOSE WHO ARGUE THAT J LIVED A NVENTNAL LIFE OF MARRIAGE HAVE BEEN TREATED AS DISPASSNATE OBSERVERS.”THE REASON FOR THIS, PETREY OBSERVED, IS THAT “J’S SEXUALY IS MORE THAN JT A HISTORIL QUTN. IT SUPPOSEDLY THORIZ OR UNTHORIZ CERTA KDS OF RELATNSHIPS AND SEXUAL EXPRSNS.” FOR RELIG LEARS, PECIALLY THOSE NOMATNS THAT SEE HOMOSEXUALY AS A S OR “TRSILLY DISORRED,” THE ASSUMED HETEROSEXUALY OF J IS EASY TO EXPLA: RNATE GOODNS NNOT BE DISORRED. BUT ’S NOT SO CLEAR WHY OTHERS ASSUME THAT J WAS HETEROSEXUAL, PECIALLY WHEN SCRIPTURAL EVINCE SCRIB ONLY HIS CELIBACY AND NOT HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN. IN TTH, AS PETREY SAYS, “THE AMBIGUY OF THE EVINCE OF J’S SEXUALY IS ENTICG TO SPECULATE ABOUT NOT JT BEE IS AN UNANSWERABLE MYSTERY, BUT BEE WE TEND TO THK THAT THE ANSWER UNLOCKS SOME GREAT TTH ABOUT RELIGN, SEX, AND OURSELV.” CANDIDA MOSS

He dared to suggt that possibily and was met wh disda, as though he were simply out to much reflectn and wh certaly no wish to shock, I felt I was left wh no optn but to suggt, for the first time half a century of my Anglin prithood, that J may well have been homosexual. Although there is no rabbic tradn of celibacy, J uld well have chosen to rea om sexual activy, whether he was gay or not.

I saw as an act of penence for the sufferg and persecutn of homosexual people that still persists many parts of the church. What matters this ntext is that there are many gay and lbian followers of J – ordaed and lay – who, spe the church, remarkably and humbly rema s fahful members. (Photo: Shutterstock/CHOATphotographer)For many Christians, opposg homosexualy is as simple as openg the uld be readg the Old Ttament, for example, and e across this particularly harsh passage om Levic: “If a man li wh another man as wh a woman, both of them have mted an abomatn.

” Or you might be studyg Pl’s first letter to the Corthians and read somethg like this: “Do not be ceived, ” wr Pl; “neher the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexualy … will her the kgdom of God. It’s possible, too, that other biblil passag that have historilly been ed agast gay people, like the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, uld be siarly re-imaged ls anti-gay ways. (Although, sce Christ’s own terpretatn of that story had nothg to do wh homosexualy, one has every right to ask why anti-gay terpretatns are so popular.

WAS J GAY?—AN EXAMATN OF THE SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK

)For s now, the halls of amia have teemed wh well-meang scholars and bible mentators anx to show that, actually, the Bible isn’t as anti-gay as we thk, and that if we all jt followed their hermentil lead, we’d see that both the Old and New Ttaments speak posively—albe dly—of homosexual love. It tak disciple, scholarship, prayer, and sometim creativy to terpret the Bible a way that mak sense to scholarly obssn reached s zenh last week when former print Jimmy Carter said that J would “approve of gay marriage.

None of his bgraphers clu a sgle stance of J challengg the mastream Jewish unrstandg of homosexualy, and J more than once affirmed a male-female pattern of uplg as the proper domtic arrangement; ’s safe to nclu, then, that Christ would have agreed wh the Levil asssment of homosexualy as a s. Any nfn about this seems motivated by ntemporary polics, not ancient, if J would have been agast homosexualy, then, at least for Christians, that ends the bate, right?

WAS J GAY? DON IM RAIS QUTN ABOUT CHRIST'S SEXUALY IN THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS

And I say this as a vout gay Christian who nfs both the divy of J and the spiratn of the Holy ’s take, for the moment, a different example. The irony is that many who advote for a “pla readg” of the biblil text when to homosexualy jump through extraordary terpretive hoops to nvce that J’ qutns weren’t really qutns. (Kirk, should be noted, is leavg his posn at Fuller at the close of the amic year, largely bee of his progrsive views on homosexualy.

We reach that ncln by g our mon sense and wisdom to terpret that specific Scripture wh the overall ethos of Christ’s the sence of Torah is love, as J says is, then mted gay relatnships hardly fall afoul of the wrgs om the New Ttament perd are the wrten rerd of J’ followers tryg to work out his life, what he said, and what all meant. Were J to beiend gay upl mted to each other love and fily, I fd tough to believe he would reject their relatnships on the grounds that all same-sex love is necsarily abomable. As John Caputo argu What Would J Denstct?, though crics might try to nvce that gay love is somethg other than love, that posn seems both ignorant and arrogant.

If the sence of Torah is love, as J says is, then mted gay relatnships are hardly ’s safe to say that J was opposed to homosexualy when he walked this Earth.