After the media onslaught surrounding Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, questions of Jesus’ celibacy inundated both scholarly and religious circles. However, despite these hypotheses, nowhere in the Bible does it explicitly give evidence of Jesus’ married state. Even the Gnostic Gospels, written years after the life of Christ, fail to explicitly mention or present flimsy evidence to substantiate the case for Jesus’ marriage. Although Jesus lived in the middle of a inflexible Jewish society, where marriage was an essential requirement for a man, through his own actions of counterculture, Jesus proves that he is both willing and able to break social norms. Whether dining with tax collectors, teaching revolutionary parables, or even allowing women to become part of his ministry, Christ transforms sociopolitical structure. Although various sources claim that he was indeed wed, whether hinted at through the wedding at Cana miracle or the five major requirements a Jewish father fulfilled for his son, Jesus remained unmarried—a claim supported by historical celibate communities, his own revolutionary actions and teachings, and overall lack of explicit scriptural evidence.
During Christ’s lifetime, Jewish culture seemingly left no wiggle room to avoid marriage, an important rite of passage to adulthood. However, on the fringes of society, near Nazareth, thrived a historically celibate community, the Essenes, centered around a town called Qumran. One of three main religious sects, through their teachings they worked to bring about peace among humankind, eagerly awaiting God’s intervention on earth. By fostering communal relationships, they sought to create heaven on earth, help the poor, and live an overall righteous lifestyle. The similarit...
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... Jesus’ brother.
Overall, no evidence of Christ’s marriage exists. When coupling this fact with his overall treatment of female disciples, his radical and revolutionary teachings, and the historical context of the Essenes, Christ’s bachelorhood seems explicit and unavoidable.
Works Cited http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/jesusmarried.htm http://www.christianity.com/Christian%20Foundations/Jesus/11543321/
http://kevinscull.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/textual-proof-that-jesus-was-unmarried/
http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/The-Da-Vinci-Code/Why-Jesus-Didnt-Marry.aspx
http://www.grailchurch.org/marriedjesus.htm
http://www.halexandria.org/dward226.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~hdieterich/Celibacy.html
http://www.gotquestions.org/was-jesus-married.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1178279/the_counterculture_of_jesus.html?cat=34
The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th-Century America- Paul E. Johnson & Sean Wilentz
The life of Jesus is one that is often discussed and debated among scholars and authors since the time Jesus walked this earth. Gerd Theissen’ s work, Shadow of the Galilean, takes the unique perspective of a grain merchant who has been enlisted by Pilate to find out information on various religious sects and report back to him. After Andreas, the grain merchant’s, first report he is given the task of finding out more about this Jesus who is gaining quite a following. Pilate and the Romans want to know if he is a threat to them. This book follows Andreas as he goes on a journey to find out more about Jesus from various sources for his report to the Romans.
From the excerpt from the novel, “Under the Feet of Jesus” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character is Estrella, a young Spanish girl with a powerful desire to learn to read. Although she is persistent, her teachers refuse to educate her because they are more concerned of Estrella’s personal hygiene. This leaves Estrella resentful because of the barrier between herself and knowledge. Estrella remains silent until a man named Perfecto Flores teaches her how to read by using his expertise in hardware and tools to represent the alphabet. Viramontes depicts the heartfelt growth of Estrella through her use of tone, figurative language, and detail.
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Bible. Eds. Dom Bernand Orchard, Rev. R. V. Fuller. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1966. Print.
Women have always played a major role in the practice of Judaism. They have many responsibilities and obligations to fulfill due to of their faith. Yet, they also must raise their families and often work to provide for their family. Overtime, Jewish women have become an example of women’s ability to live very demanding lives and still sustain her religious devotion. Jewish women have had to overcome numerous obstacles in incorporating the changes inherent with ever-evolving life with their static religious duties. Thus was the case for any Jew who chose to move away from their community and start a new life. Many pioneers found it hard to remain practicing Jews when there were no other Jewish people around them. Some observances became difficult to exercise given the surrounding and Jews would sometimes have to compromise their traditions with physical practicality. This led to great personal struggle for women who had always felt that the family’s religious sanctity was her responsibility. But these fascinatingly resourceful and dedicated women found ways to overcome the hindrances that their new home provided and still plant the seeds that would grow into a rich and strong Jewish community regardless of where they lived.
Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon. "Jewish Traditions." World religions: western traditions. 1996. Reprint. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2011. 127-157. Print.
Huggins, Jason. “Purity Among the Essenes and the Nephelides.” Wabash. Wabash College, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014
Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Qumran caves, the lives of a now deceased society has been placed under the microscope. With the amount of work archaeologists and manuscript scholars have committed themselves to accomplish, more information on these Qumranites has been learned. Scholars have been able to determine that they were a Jewish sect, while also learning that they were a Jewish sect and obtaining their Biblical canon. The majority of scholars have associated the sect of Qumran with the Essenes due to their similarities. Though much was not found at the beginning of the excavations concerning women, it has become a matter in which many scholars are seeking more to know. Further archaeological findings have led to knowing more information about the Qumranite women.
New International Version. [Colorado Springs]: Biblica, 2011. BibleGateway.com. Web. 3 Mar 2011. Accessed 22 April 2014.
Thesis: the historical Jesus was a Galilean man who who lived during the first Century A.D. and gained fame through chicanery and tricks, which ensured him as the basis of modern day Christianity.
1996. “Sacrifices and Offerings in Ancient Israel” in Community, Identity, and Ideology: Social Science approach to the Hebrew Bible., ed. Charles E. Carter.
From the documents, it seems evident that the Essene community sought to preserve both their holiness and obedience to God. Therefore, what is learned suggests that the Essenes lived and devoted their lives with strict adherence to the priestly order; in so doing, it was especially important for those who submitted themselves to this way of life, do so completely separated from the general communities around them. Additionally, it was their belief that those who lived outside of the sectarian way of life, did so by a manner contradictory to God’s will.
Wright, N. T. Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters. New York: HarperOne, 2011. Print.
The Bible is the holy, inspired, infallible Word of God. Within the Bible, there are different stories and principles that the Lord gave us through special revelation. In the New Testament there were Jewish or religious groups that began teaching unbiblical doctrines. Two of those sects were the Pharisees and the Essenes. The importance of learning about these groups is so that we can see how they were wrong and to make sure we don’t mirror their actions. In this paper I will be comparing the Pharisees’ views on God and Jesus with that of the Essenes’.
Theopedia, an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity." Theopedia, an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. (Theopedia) (Theopedia)