The Jesus' Wife Fragment and The So-Called Conspiracy Against the Gnostics

Tony Jones has an excellent response to an individual asking about the currently fashionable so-called conspiracy of the early orthodox church to silence the Gnostics-- an apropos subject given the news about the fragment concerning Jesus' wife. Tony writes,

In the end... the Gnostic Gospels were not rejected from the Bible because they're scandalous. They were rejected because they don't jibe with the Judeo-Christian story about who God is and what God does.

Yes, indeed. Contrary to some of the "Gnostic cheerleaders" Tony mentions, the Gnostic Gospels do not contain a radically threatening message. Rather they promote an accommodationist Jesus to the spirit of that age. It's the canonical Gospels that give us the radical Jesus.

And my experience in college and seminary was the same as Tony's. The Gnostic Gospels were assigned reading in one of my New Testament classes in college, and was readily available for purchase in the college bookstore.

Unfortunately, even intelligent people fall for conspiracy theories.

The entire post can be read here.