Overview

From award-winning author Ariel Sabar comes the gripping, true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that engulfed Harvard University. In 2012, Dr Karen King, a star professor at Harvard Divinity School, announced a blockbuster discovery. She had found an ancient fragment of papyrus — ‘The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’, as she titled it — in which Jesus called Mary Magdalene ‘my wife’. Her announcement made international headlines. If early Christians believed that Jesus was married, it would upend the 2,000-year history of the world’s predominant faith, threatening not just the celibate, all-male priesthood but sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership. As debates over the manuscript’s authenticity raged, award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar set out to investigate a baffling mystery: where did this tiny scrap of papyrus come from? His indefatigable search for answers became an international true-crime story, in which, remarkably, he managed to solve the crime.

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9781913348304

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Reviews

Praise for Heart of the City: 'Quirky true tales about city landmarks and chance encounters.' * New York Magazine * Praise for Heart of the City: 'Charming, uplifting tales.' * Library Journal * Praise for Heart of the City: 'A beguiling romp.' * New York Times * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'Graceful and resonant.' * New York Times Sunday Book Review * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'Sabar offers something rare and precious - a tale of hope and continuity that can be passed on for generations.' STARRED REVIEW * Publishers Weekly * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'A biography, a memoir, a meticulously reconstructed history of a largely vanished people and place ... Transcending mere reportage, it acquires a novel-like warp and weft.' * Los Angeles Times * 'Scintillating ... Sabar is a master storyteller.' * Tablet * 'A testament to the value of investigative journalism ... [F]ull of shocking and revelatory moments.' * Daily Beast * 'A thriller for eggheads.' * Boston Globe * 'It's a story about journalism done right, about Sabar's own capable, dogged sleuthing to get to the bottom of those famous headlines ... Veritas offers a vital lesson less about Christianity than about what happens when a scholar decides that the story is more important than the truth.' -- Lucas Wittmann * Time * 'Sabar offers plenty of fascinating arcana about scientific and historical methods for testing and analysing such an object, and he also brings to life many of the people involved ... Veritas is packed with details and tells a complex story, but Sabar's prose is clear and inviting, and the book is structured with a well-tuned sense of suspense. It's a wonderfully absorbing example of truth being stranger than fiction.' -- Colette Bancroft * Tampa Bay Times * 'A tour de force of investigative journalism ... Mr. Sabar's book is a model on how to investigate any new 'discoveries' from ancient texts. It is also a cautionary tale about the acceptance of experts and expertise at face value.' -- Rebecca I. Denova * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette * 'Extraordinary ... [A]stonishing ... The book is as good as a detective novel, possessing plot, subplots, hidden motives, bees in eccentric bonnets and startling revelations.' -- Katherine A. Powers * Minneapolis Star Tribune * '[A]n exhaustive examination of the whole affair in a work of exemplary narrative nonfiction ... Provocative and probing, this will entice readers interested in the history of early Christianity.' -- Ilene Cooper * Booklist * 'Fascinating ... Ariel Sabar digs out every detail in his engrossing book ... The interaction of these two characters, one with a deep need to deceive and the other with a desperate need to believe, presents a wholly human story of frailty and weakness.' -- Tom Gjelten * NPR * '[A] madcap, unforgettable book ... [F]or enthusiasts of ancient Christianity ... and readers of idea-driven capers, whether by Daniel Silva or Janet Malcolm. It's a barely believable tale, crazier than a tweed-sniffer in the faculty lounge.' -- Mark Oppenheimer * New York Times Book Review * 'Mesmerising ... [Sabar] has our attention, and slowly, remorselessly, he pays out the rest of his devilish yarn ... Savour the denouement - and don't leave at intermission.' -- Alex Beam * Wall Street Journal * 'A work of exemplary narrative nonfiction ... [F]itting neatly into the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction category ... Provocative and probing.' STARRED REVIEW * Booklist/American Library Association * 'Sabar has written a true story of mystery and intrigue ... [B]lending religious history with a tale of deception ... [A] well-researched, engrossing backstory of failed discovery from a noted scholar.' -- Jacqueline Parascandola * Library Journal * 'If turning scraps of ancient papyrus into an enthralling true-crime escapade takes a miracle, consider Ariel Sabar a miracle worker ... Veritas, Latin for truth and inscribed on the Harvard seal, is an extraordinary and mind-bending adventure into ancient traditions with modern consequences.' * Shelf Awareness * 'Intriguing religious/true-crime story involving a possible wife of Jesus ... A lengthy yet fascinating tale of how one scholar was duped, both by a con man and by herself.' * Kirkus Reviews * 'Veritas is a fascinating journey into theology and academia, meticulously researched, well-written, consistently engaging.' -- Gregg Easterbrook, author of <i>It's Better Than It Looks</i> 'Ariel Sabar is an excellent investigative journalist explaining in detail a con that could have changed all of Christianity. Whatever the scam, the con artist and the victim both have an agenda.' -- Frank Abagnale, author of <i>Catch Me If You Can</i> 'Sabar's meticulous reporting shows how quickly the first victims of a forgery turn into con men themselves, desperately manipulating the evidence to keep plugging holes in a forger's fragile story. A masterful portrait of desire and a gripping analysis of a scandal that reveals the blurred lines between scholarship, faith, and lies. An unprecedented contribution to the study of forgery.' -- Dr Erin Thompson, art crime professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of <i>Possession: the curious history of private collectors from antiquity to the present</i> 'This astonishing book - part detective story, part exercise in reporting conducted at its highest level - reaches hold of you by the shirt collar and doesn't let go ... Exciting on every level, it poses the deepest question of faith: does it depend on the scholarly verification of ancient fragments or on what Heaney called a journey 'into the marvellous'? I was bowled over by it.' -- Caitlin Flanagan, author of <i>Girl Land</i> 'Ariel Sabar tells a fascinating story.' -- Craig Brown * The Mail on Sunday *

Praise for Heart of the City: 'Quirky true tales about city landmarks and chance encounters.' * New York Magazine * Praise for Heart of the City: 'Charming, uplifting tales.' * Library Journal * Praise for Heart of the City: 'A beguiling romp.' * New York Times * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'Graceful and resonant.' * New York Times Sunday Book Review * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'Sabar offers something rare and precious - a tale of hope and continuity that can be passed on for generations.' STARRED REVIEW * Publishers Weekly * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'A biography, a memoir, a meticulously reconstructed history of a largely vanished people and place ... Transcending mere reportage, it acquires a novel-like warp and weft.' * Los Angeles Times * 'Veritas is a fascinating journey into theology and academia, meticulously researched, well-written, consistently engaging.' -- Gregg Easterbrook, author of <i>It's Better Than It Looks</i> 'Ariel Sabar is an excellent investigative journalist explaining in detail a con that could have changed all of Christianity. Whatever the scam, the con artist and the victim both have an agenda.' -- Frank Abagnale, author of <i>Catch Me If You Can</i> 'Sabar's meticulous reporting shows how quickly the first victims of a forgery turn into con men themselves, desperately manipulating the evidence to keep plugging holes in a forger's fragile story. A masterful portrait of desire and a gripping analysis of a scandal that reveals the blurred lines between scholarship, faith, and lies. An unprecedented contribution to the study of forgery.' -- Dr Erin Thompson, art crime professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of <i>Possession: the curious history of private collectors from antiquity to the present</i> 'This astonishing book - part detective story, part exercise in reporting conducted at its highest level - reaches hold of you by the shirt collar and doesn't let go ... Exciting on every level, it poses the deepest question of faith: does it depend on the scholarly verification of ancient fragments or on what Heaney called a journey 'into the marvellous'? I was bowled over by it.' -- Caitlin Flanagan, author of <i>Girl Land</i>

Praise for Heart of the City: 'Quirky true tales about city landmarks and chance encounters.' * New York Magazine * Praise for Heart of the City: 'Charming, uplifting tales.' * Library Journal * Praise for Heart of the City: 'A beguiling romp.' * New York Times * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'Graceful and resonant.' * New York Times Sunday Book Review * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'Sabar offers something rare and precious - a tale of hope and continuity that can be passed on for generations.' STARRED REVIEW * Publishers Weekly * Praise for My Father's Paradise: 'A biography, a memoir, a meticulously reconstructed history of a largely vanished people and place ... Transcending mere reportage, it acquires a novel-like warp and weft.' * Los Angeles Times *

Author Information

Ariel Sabar is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, The Washington Post, and many other publications. He is the author of My Father’s Paradise: a son’s search for his Jewish past in Kurdish Iraq, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

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