The New York Times published an interview Saturday between opinion columnist Nicholas Kristoff and author Elaine Pagels in which Kristoff probed her assertion that Jesus may have been the product of rape and not a virgin birth.
Pagels, a religious historian and professor at Princeton University, alluded to a Roman soldier named Panthera, who she claims may have fathered Jesus, possibly through rape, in her forthcoming book “Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus.”
Though Pagels called the evidence “circumstantial” during the interview, she also said it shouldn’t be ignored.
Kristoff, however, noted that in her book she concedes that many of the historical accounts claiming Jesus was the son of Panthera were from early writers trying to disparage Jesus.
“Yes, these stories circulated after Jesus’ death among members of the Jewish community who regarded him as a false messiah, saying that Jesus’ father was a Roman soldier,” she told Kristoff.
Merry Christmas from the New York Times. pic.twitter.com/8R9fjW2zex
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) December 21, 2024
Pagels claims to provide evidence for the historical existence of a Roman soldier named Panthera in her unpublished book, which will be available to the public April 2025. She told Kristoff there was a discovery of a grave of a Roman solider named Tiberius Panthera, who she claimed was “a member of a cohort of Syrian archers stationed in Palestine in the first century.”
Pagels, according to Kristoff, claimed there was early evidence that Mary, mother of Jesus, was promiscuous and may have slept with Panthera on her own volition, though she also mentions historical accounts of Roman soldiers mass-raping the Jewish citizens of Galilee around the time of Jesus’s birth. (RELATED: Researchers Discover 1,300-Year-Old Tattoo Of Christ)
Pagels also described a tumultuous journey within her own faith. She grew up in a house that was militantly opposed to faith, Kristoff says, became an Evangelical Christian on her own accord and then abandoned the faith altogether when a fellow Christian told her her Jewish friend wasn’t going to go to heaven.
“When some Christians said to me that non-Christians are going to hell, I left their church. That made no sense to me. What about Jesus’ message of God’s love? At that point I left Christianity behind. For some people, there’s no middle ground. You’re either in or out — that’s how it’s often practiced,” she told Kristoff.
She did, however, indicate she still has lingering questions about her own relationship with the faith.
Pagels has written a number of best-selling books on the topic of Christianity. Her 1979 book “The Gnostic Gospels” won the National Book Foundation’s National Book Award.
Her writings and thoughts on the subject of Christianity have been diverse and controversial. In a 2007 appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” Pagels suggested that modern Christianity was simply the product of authoritarian dominance.
Pagels in 2007 telling Colbert modern day Christianity is inherently authoritarian.https://t.co/PwiDsp4cIu
— Rob (@RobMcGravytrain) December 22, 2024
“Inherent in your belief is a lot of authoritarianism,” she told Colbert.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
