“Not a single one of our ancient sources indicates that Jesus was married, let alone married to Mary Magdalene. All such claims are part of modern fictional reconstructions of Jesus' life, not rooted in the surviving accounts themselves. The historical approach to our sources may not be as exciting and sensationalist as fictional claims about Jesus (he kept a lover! he had sex! he made babies!), but there's something to be said for knowing what really happened in history, even if it is not as titillating as what happens in novels.”

Source: Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code (2004), Ch. 7: 'Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Marriage'

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Not a single one of our ancient sources indicates that Jesus was married, let alone married to Mary Magdalene. All such…" by Bart D. Ehrman?
Bart D. Ehrman photo
Bart D. Ehrman 21
American academic 1955

Related quotes

Lee Strobel photo
Albert Schweitzer photo
Walter Rauschenbusch photo

“Jesus was not a social reformer of the modern type… he approached these facts purely from the moral, and not from the economic or historical point of view.”

Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) United States Baptist theologian

Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.2 The Social Aims of Jesus, p. 47
Context: Men are seizing on Jesus as the exponent of their own social convictions. They all claim him.... But in truth Jesus was not a social reformer of the modern type... he approached these facts purely from the moral, and not from the economic or historical point of view.

William Saroyan photo

“Jesus never said anything about absurdity, and he never indicated for one flash of time that he was aware of the preposterousness of his theory about himself.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

Sons Come and Go, Mothers Hang in Forever (1976)
Context: Jesus never said anything about absurdity, and he never indicated for one flash of time that he was aware of the preposterousness of his theory about himself. And he didn't even try to make the theory understandable in terms of the reality and experience of the rest of us. For if everybody else is also not what Jesus said he was, what good is what he said?

Bernard of Clairvaux photo

“Our King [Jesus] is accused of treachery; it is said of him [by the Muslims] that he is not God, but that he falsely pretended to be something he was not.”

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) French abbot, theologian

As quoted in Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? : Understanding the Differences between Christianity and Islam (2002) by Timothy George, p. 49

Ray Comfort photo

“You may claim that [Paul] merely saw a vision of Jesus. Not so. He met the Lord and came 'to know Him, and the power of His resurrection.”

Ray Comfort (1949) New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist

Source: You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think (2009)

Robert M. Price photo

“My point here is simply that, even if there was a historical Jesus lying back of the gospel Christ, he can never be recovered. If there ever was a historical Jesus, there isn't one any more.”

Robert M. Price (1954) American theologian

Opening Statement by Robert Price http://infidels.org/library/modern/robert_price/price-rankin/price1.html
[Price, Robert M., w:Robert M. Price, The Price-Rankin Debate: Jesus: Fact or Fiction?, http://infidels.org/library/modern/robert_price/price-rankin/, infidels.org, 27 November 2016, 1997]

Edmund Hillary photo

“Better if he had said something natural like, "Jesus, here we are."”

Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) New Zealand mountaineer

On Neil Armstrong’s famous first words on stepping on the surface of the moon, "That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." The Sunday Times [London] (21 July 1974)

Martin Luther photo

Related topics