Recently I wrote about German theologian Uta Ranke-Heinemann
and her breakthrough study on the oppression of women and supression of
sexuality in the Roman Catholic Church. In her book, Ranke-Heinemann
documents that the doctrine of priestly celibacy is based on a wilful
distortion of the Gospels and what we know of the historical Jesus.
There is absoutely no evidence that Jesus himself was celibate, and
Ranke-Heinemann speculates that Jesus may have even had a wife.
Ranke-Heinmeann was hounded out of the Church for her blasphemous
views. Now, based on a newly -discovered papyrus fragment, it appears
that Ranke-Heinemann was correct. Not only is there evidence that Jesus may have married, but he may also have had a female disciple:
The faded papyrus fragment
is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black
ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus
having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that
purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”
The discovery has implications for the Catholic Church,
calling into question not only the insistence on priestly celibacy, but
also the prohibition on ordaining women as priests. Celibacy, in
particular, has had devastating consequences for clergy and is at the
heart of the child rape scandal that has ravaged the Church for
decades.
Eugen Drewermann, the German theologian and psychologist who was
expelled from the priesthood by Josef Ratzinger, has written extensively
on the terrible spiritual consequences from the Church's opposition
placed between the love of God and love of humans. He writes in his
1991 book Kleriker – Psychogramm eines Ideals:
"Celibacy as anticipation of death – what kind of life
could follow from that! Earthly life is no hurdle to jump on the way to
heaven. It is the mirror of eternity into which one has to look as
intensely as possible because all we can ever know of God on earth is
reflected in it. Only one who has lived well will die with ease."
Will new insight into the historical Jesus lead to any changes in Church doctrine? Sadly, no.
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Since Emperor Constantine the church is a hybrid of several religious cults in order to justify ceasaropapism and imperial power and the bible is only a concept and tool specifically designed for this purpose. “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” said Jesus. “The Church has neither to say yes nor no, but only amen.” said Konrad Adenauer, apparently a true believer.
You can breed hybrids, but you can’t develop hybrids to new breeds: They would fall to devolution.