On September 18, 2012, the world was introduced to two women: Jesus’ wife and Karen L. King. The first woman, from antiquity, has been much speculated about; the second woman, from modernity, has already been venerated by the academy. Karen King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, at the 10th International Congress on Coptic Studies,presented to her colleagues—leading Coptic scholars from around the globe—a small fragment of Coptic papyrus in which Jesus mentions his “wife.” The text is now referred to as the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.Hoopla ensued.

Before her presentation, Karen King, ever the diligent scholar, had the Coptic papyrus reviewed by esteemed Coptic scholars Roger Bagnall and AnneMarie Luijendijk, whose academic credentials and reputations are above reproach, and neither found reason to find it fraudulent. The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife is approximately 1.5 x 3 inches. The inscription side contains eight lines of “unpracticed, messy” Sahidic Coptic. The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife was scheduled to be published in the prestigious Harvard Theological Review (HTR) in 2012. However, due to the questions surrounding the papyrus fragment’s authenticity, the journal delayed the article until more testing could be completed. Many of these questions originated from Brown University professor of Egyptology and Assyriology Leo Depuydt, who claimed “It stinks!” only moments after viewing a photograph of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife. HTR finally published a revised copy of Karen King’s paper, along with several articles on the Coptic papyrus in the April 2014 issue—including an article from Leo Depuydt claiming that the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife is a fake.