It all began yesterday with a tantalizing article in the Guardian titled, “Jesus as an openly gay man: What if the newly found codices provided evidence of Jesus’s same-sex activity? Michael Ruse imagines the implications.” It has become an Internet sensation -- widely reprinted in sources ranging from the respected Wall Street Journal to a buzzing swarm of pro and anti-LGBT blogs.
“Imagines” is the key word in the headline. The article sounds factual and has convinced many, but apparently it is fiction. It’s true that ancient lead codices were discovered in a cave in Jordan last month. But, as far as I can tell, only a few words have been translated so far.
Much of the “new” proof is actually the same evidence of a gay Jesus that has been hiding in plain sight in the gospels for centuries: his loving relations with men, especially the Beloved Disciple.
Ruse, professor of philosophy and biology at Florida State University, presents an appealing picture of Jesus affirming and participating in same-sex relationships in the new archeological find.. Go ahead and enjoy these excerpts:
The most astounding finding from the newly discovered lead codices is that Jesus Christ was unambiguously and openly gay. He and his disciples formed a same-sex coterie, bound by feelings of love and mutual support. There are recorded instances of same-sex activity – the "beloved disciple" plays a significant role – and there is affirmation of the joys of friendship and of living and loving together….Click here for the whole article at guardian.co.uk.
There is at least one new parable, that of the two young men. There are clear echoes of the relationship between David and Jonathan, for Jesus speaks of one young man having his soul "knit with the soul" of the other, and loving him "as his own soul"…
Conversely, there is at least one incident when Jesus quarrels violently with Joseph, who shows great hostility and makes wild claims about "manliness"...
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Special thanks to Terrence Weldon of the Queering the Church Blog and Lynn Jordan for the news tips about this!
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Image credit
Baptism of Christ by Francesco Francia Raibolini (1509)
from Wikimedia Commons
6 comments:
I have a horrible feeling that the comment I just posted didn’t get processed. If it did, ignore this second posting. Otherwise, I’ll try to reproduce some of my thoughts.
It would be a huge mistake if, in the rush to define Jesus’ sexuality beyond the celibate heterosexual norm that has always been assumed, we ignored some of the evidence that was so beautifully discussed in your Jesus in Love novels. The contention that Jesus must have been gay because he surrounded himself with a “coterie of male disciples” is completely absurd. All Rabbis of that period had male disciples only. What was unique about Jesus is that he had female disciples, apparently of equal dignity and acceptance as the men – Mary Magdalene and the mother of James and John, amongst others. Women were with him throughout his ministry, not just at the foot of the Cross, and that was unheard-of in those times!
We need to be aware that if Jesus was indeed the “Son of Man” – fully-realized human potential – he had to embody not only all human gender possibilities but also the fully-realized and divinized Eros. You had that vision clearly in your novels, Kitt! Keep the message alive!
Right, Trudie! The historical Jesus had female disciples as well as male -- and it was so rare back then as to be almost proof of his divinity! I really don’t know what the historical Jesus did with his sexuality, but my personal belief (expressed in the “Jesus in Love” novels) is that he was attracted to people of both sexes, what we would call “bisexual.” However, I found almost nobody understood when I used the phrase “bisexual Jesus” -- almost everyone wrongly assumes it means multiple sex partners, not multiple attractions.
I value the idea of a “gay Jesus” to counteract and heal from the damage being done by homophobes in Christ’s name. It is a primary focus of this blog, and my readers are certainly interested in it. Two different people contacted me to tell about Ruse’s gay Jesus speculations.
On December 6 (St. Nicholas' Feast Day) 1970, I had a Visionary Experience which changed my life. On that day I was shown that not only was Jesus a homosexual (not Gay in our current sense, but Queer without a doubt and that's why they crucified him, not for claiming to be the messiah) but that all of us who really believed in him had become him. We are Jesus resurrecterd. Everyone reading this right now is a part of him. We are one in him. That realization has alloweed me to forgive myself for being what i am because of him. I've been waiting many years to see this happening. It validates and vindicates me and that feels so good! Dirk Vanden. http://dirkvanden.blogspot.com/
Dirk, your vision that we are all one in a Queer resurrected Jesus is amazing. I’m happy that we could share it on this blog through our previous post Gay Jesus vision appears in new mystery novel.
"Jesus said: 'whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; i myself shall beomce that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him.' The Gospel of Thomas, verse 108
#23:"Jesus said 'I shall choose you, one from a thousand, two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one."
#66: "Jesus said, 'Show me the stone that the bulders rejected: that is the keystone.'"
#114: Simon Peter said to them "Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit like you males. For eery female who makes herself male willenter the domain of Heaven." Thomas
#29: "Jesus said 'If the flesh came into being because of spirit, that is a marvel, but if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels. Yet i marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty."
Interesting set of quotes from the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, Dirk. These are some of the "old" evidence for a queer Jesus -- and one who strongly affirmed women's ministry.
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