Did Jesus Christ marry Mary Magdalene and have children with her? Surely, you’re thinking, that’s the kind of sensationalist mumbo-jumbo you find only in the pages of fiction.
　　耶稣是否跟抹大拉的玛利亚结婚并生子了呢？也许你会想那是肯定的了，这可能只是一种你从小说里得到感觉。
In fact, The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s 2003 best-selling thriller, was hinged on that very premise: a secret bloodline had sprung from the union between Jesus and Mary.
　实际上，丹·布朗2003年的畅销书《达芬奇密码》就是以此为前提的：耶稣和玛利亚之间存在某种隐秘关系。
But now the authors of a new book, The Lost Gospel, claim to have unearthed evidence of a manuscript which tells the story of Jesus’s two sons and his marriage to Mary.
　但是最近，新书《失落的福音》的作者声称在一份手稿中找到了证据，该手稿讲述的故事中涉及到耶稣的两个儿子以及耶稣同玛利亚的婚姻。
Of course, there have been various discoveries of ‘new’ gospels over the years and allegations about a romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene have persisted for centuries.
　当然，近年来有很多“新福音”的发现，称耶稣和玛利亚之间保持着长时间的恋爱关系。
Indeed, they have frequently been explored in popular culture. However, this new book focuses on a story to be found in a manuscript dating back to 570 AD and written in Syriac — a Middle Eastern literary language used between the 4th and 8th centuries and related to Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus.
　确实，大众文化对这方面的探索比较多。但是这本新书的内容聚焦在公元570年发现的一份由叙利亚语写成的手稿上，叙利亚语是公元4世纪到8世纪期间在中东地区使用的标准语言，也是耶稣所用的语言。
Written on vellum — treated animal skin — it had been in the archives of the British Library for about 20 years, where it was put after the British Museum had originally bought it in 1847 from a dealer who said he had obtained it from the ancient St Macarius Monastery in Egypt.
　这份手稿写在牛皮纸上，在英国图书馆作为档案保存了20多年，这以前被存放在英国博物馆。1847年英国博物馆从一个商人手中买下，该商人称他从埃及一个修道院里得到。
For the past 160 years, the document has been studied by a few scholars but has been considered pretty unremarkable.
在这近160年的时间里，很多学者对这份手稿进行了研究，但都觉得意义不大。
But then Simcha Jacobovici, an Israeli-Canadian film-maker, and Barrie Wilson, a professor of religious studies in Toronto, took a look. After six years of study, they are convinced they’ve uncovered a missing fifth gospel — to add to the four gospels, which tell the story of the life of Christ and are said to have been written by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, in the 1st century AD.
　直到加拿大籍的以色列电影制片人希姆查·雅各布维奇和多伦多的宗教研究教授巴里·威尔逊看到这份手稿后，经过六年的研究，确信他们发现了遗失的第五本福音，讲述了耶稣生活的故事，由福音传教士马修、马克、卢克和约翰等在公元1世纪的时候写成。
If true, this would make it the greatest revelation into the life of Jesus in nearly 2,000 years.
如果这是真的，这将会成为近2000年来对耶稣生活研究的一个重大发现。

Later this week, he will present his findings at a conference hosted by the British Library.
　　本周，雅各布维奇将会在由英国图书馆主办的一个会议中报告他们的发现。
Like the fictional The Da Vinci Code, which had its hero scouring works of art for secret, religious messages, the document is in code. According to Jacobovici and Wilson, it tells of Jesus’s marriage through the story of the Old Testament character Joseph and his wife Aseneth.
　在小说《达芬奇密码》中，主人公通过解码艺术品发现隐秘的宗教信息，与此相同，这份手稿也需要解码。雅各布维奇和威尔逊表示，手稿通过《旧约》里的人物约瑟夫和他的妻子阿瑟尼斯的故事讲述了耶稣的婚姻。
Central to their claim is that Joseph was actually Jesus — and that Aseneth was actually Mary Magdalene.
雅各布维奇他们认为约瑟夫实际就是耶稣，而阿瑟尼斯实际上就是抹大拉的玛利亚。
He and his colleague Wilson point to several clues that they say give away its true meaning. Principally, the story about Joseph has little connection with other Old Testament stories about a man who is best-known for the tale of his murderous brothers.
　雅各布维奇和威尔逊指出了几点依据。首先是这份手稿中的约瑟夫的故事和其他旧约中那个因拥有残忍的兄弟而出名的人关系不大。
What’s more, Joseph is often seen in early Syriac Christianity as a symbol of Jesus. The manuscript calls Joseph — like Jesus — the son of God.
　另外，在早期的叙利亚基督教中，约瑟夫被看做是耶稣的一个象征。该手稿中称约瑟夫为上帝之子，这和对耶稣的称呼是一样的。
While some academics agree that it is possible that others gospels — recounting Jesus’s marriage — may have existed but since been lost, others are adamant that the idea is a complete nonsense.
虽然有些学者同意这部手稿可能是记叙耶稣婚姻生活的、确实存在但曾经丢失的福音，但也有些学者认为这部手稿毫无任何意义。
History is littered with such debates.
有关耶稣的婚姻在历史上也一直存在争议。
Just two years ago, Harvard professor Karen L. King declared that she’d found a papyrus fragment — thought to be from Egypt — called The Gospel Of Jesus’s Wife. In it, there were four words, written in Coptic (an Egyptian language), saying: ‘Jesus said to them, “My wife . . .”
　’两年前，哈佛教授卡伦·L·金称发现了一张写在草纸上的、被认为是来自埃及的残稿，并把它叫做《耶稣之妻福音书》。其中，有用科普特语（埃及的一种语言）写道：“耶稣对他们说‘我的妻子…’”
Jacobovici believes that his ‘lost gospel’ supports Professor King’s studies.
　雅各布维奇认为他的这份“失落的福音”支持了金教授的研究。
He is also convinced the story of Jesus’s marriage is already incorporated into four gospels in the New Testament.
他还确信耶稣婚姻的故事实际上已经包含在了新约的四部福音书里。
And therefore, he insists, there can be ‘no question’ that, even in the established gospels, Jesus must have a wife.
　因此他坚称，即使是在现有的福音书中，也能毫无疑问地得出，耶稣一定是娶有妻子的。
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Christian historians are not convinced.
但不管怎样，大多数基督教历史学家并不信服。
As for the British Library itself, staff have refused to endorse the new book.
　而英国图书馆也表示并未对此书做出批准。
Undaunted, Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson insist: ‘The only way there is no evidence is if you keep ignoring the evidence.’
　不过雅各布维奇和威尔逊毫不畏惧，依然坚称：“如果你一直忽视证据的存在，那么就永远没有证据。”

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