Category:Married Jesus (subject)

This page is authored and edited by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan.

Married Jesus

Overview

The language of "love" and "marriage" in describing the relationship between Jesus and his disciples is not absent in ancient sources, where Jesus is often introduced as the bridegroom. Some disciples in particular are said to have experienced a special love relation with Jesus (notably, the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John, or Mary Magdalene in Gosepl of Philip).

Soon, the notion developed that a Christian virgin was like a bride devoting her soul to Jesus in "mystical marriage." Among the many female saints, whose mystical experience was described as a "marriage," are St. Agnes, St. Catherine of Alexandria, Blessed Angela of Foligno, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Colette, St. Teresa, St. Catherine of Ricci, Venerable Marina d'Escobar, St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, St. Veronica Giuliani, and Venerable Maria de Agreda.

In the 20th century the "mystical" became "sexual." The idea that Jesus had sexual desire or was object of sexual desire, that he had a wife or lover, and he fathered children, began to be explored in fictional (theological, and scholarly) works.