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A bowl
excavated from the underwater ruins of Alexandria may be one of the most
important discoveries for queer spirituality in a generation.... http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/01/jesus-bowl.html
Setting aside the dubious implication of other worlds having earlier references to Christ, the natural reaction of both Christians and non-Christians to this report will likely be: The earliest written reference to Jesus Christ describes him as a...magician? But this is not news at all, for this is precisely the
argument made by an eminent New Testament scholar named Morton Smith in his
1978 book actually called Jesus the
Magician. The discovery of this bowl offers uncanny confirmation of the
Smith’s central thesis: that Jesus, in his own time and in the period that
followed, was widely understood to be a geotes, the Greek term
typically translated as “magician,” although “healer” or “wonder worker” might
be more accurate. This was because, as
the gospels amply attest, the ritual gestures and formulaic language Jesus
routinely employed in effecting his rituals are paralleled in magical spells
recorded in the very the period Jesus lived.
“Jesus the Son of God,” as Smith pointed out, was the view of him as
seen “by that party of his followers which eventually triumphed.” Both views,
of course, were interpretations of the real, historical Jesus, whose life is
now irretrievably obscured by legend. Nonetheless, Smith cited an impressive
amount of evidence to show why Jesus was widely viewed as a magician, from
the gospels themselves and other sources. His book includes illustrations of
artifacts as well that link Jesus to magic. But none of his examples are as
early or as explicit at this bowl from ancient The ritual use of such bowls is documented as far back
as the 3rd millennium BCE in Mesopotamia and, in Jesus’ time, in
The publication of Jesus
the Magician brought Morton Smith no end of derision from mainstream
scholars. Smith himself was even accused of forging a key source of evidence,
the so-called Secret Gospel of Mark. In 1958, Smith discovered a passage of
this gospel quoted in an ancient letter preserved at desert monastery outside
of Jerusalem. The letter was written by the late second century Church father
Clement, bishop at none other than While the accusations of forgery are still made in some quarters, a growing consensus among scholars has redeemed Smith’s reputation. The Secret Gospel is increasingly accepted as authentic—that is, an actual passage from an early version of Mark written by the same author. The discovery of this bowl from My book, Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love, depends rather heavily on Smith’s work. To the extent that this new find lends credence to Smith, it lends credence my shamanic Jesus as well. And it suggests that more spade work by historians, theologians, and archeologists may yet reveal astonishing evidence for queer history and spirituality. P.S. One other recent and widely publicized discovery
lends support to Smith’s work and my own. The so-called Gospel of Judas, an apocryphal text from the second century C.E.,
found in Please click on the attached link for an unpublished article-in-progress on the queer insights to be drawn from the Gospel of Judas... Christianity’s Other
Betrayal: —Will Roscoe, October 2008 |
In
October 2008, an Internet news report announced the discovery by marine
archaeologists of a ceramic bowl in the waters off the ancient Egyptian city
of 
The
god or spirit invoked by those who used this bowl, to whom they spoke and
appealed for aid, and invited to unite with them and inhabit their bodies
was, as the inscription indicates, Jesus Christ. The owner of this bowl was
therefore a Christian—a believer in Christ—but of branch of early
Christianity that was being avidly suppressed in 
version
of Christianity.
recorded--in
the years since Smith’s discovery in 1958 it has disappeared.)