Description

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From the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author comes the gripping true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that shook Harvard.

In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star religion professor at Harvard, announced a breathtaking discovery just steps from the Vatican: she’d found an ancient scrap of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “my wife.” The mysterious manuscript, which King provocatively titled “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” had the power to topple the Roman Catholic Church. It threatened not just the all-male priesthood, but centuries of sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership, much of it premised on the hallowed tradition of a celibate Jesus. 
 
Award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar covered King’s announcement in Rome but left with a question that no one seemed able to answer: Where in the world did this history-making papyrus come from? Sabar’s dogged sleuthing led from the halls of Harvard Divinity School to the former headquarters of the East German Stasi before landing on the trail of a Florida man with an unbelievable past. Could a motorcycle-riding pornographer with a fake Egyptology degree and a prophetess wife have set in motion one of the greatest hoaxes of the century? A propulsive tale laced with twists and trapdoors, Veritas is an exhilarating, globe-straddling detective story about an Ivy League historian and a college dropout—and how they worked together to pass off an audacious forgery as a long-lost piece of the Bible.

About the Author

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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.

Praise For…

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ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Smithsonian Magazine • Christian Science Monitor • The Minneapolis Star Tribune • Shelf Awareness

NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST TRUE-CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

FINALIST FOR THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND EDITORS BOOK AWARD

“A mesmerizing five-act real-life melodrama. . . . By the end of the book, one feels sorry for Ms. King, not so much because a con man gulled her but because, from the universe of journalists who might have covered this story, she drew Mr. Sabar. Pursuing the King-Fritz drama, he left no stone unturned. . . . There are dozens more surprises in his five-act play than in this brief appreciation. Savor the denouement—and don’t leave at intermission.”  —The Wall Street Journal

“[A] madcap, unforgettable book. . . . It’s a barely believable tale, crazier than a tweed-sniffer in the faculty lounge.” —The New York Times Book Review

“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.” —Time Magazine
 
“A thriller for eggheads. . . . Beneath the surface of this meticulously reported book lies the slow burn, recognizable to any journalist, of a scorned professional.” —The Boston Globe

“Every page of its icily forensic narrative advances the story in someunexpected way. . . . Partly a psychological thriller about the danse macabre that goes on between a skilled con man and a well-chosen mark, partly a global historical blockbuster with variants on the obligatory tropes: lurid sex, wicked priests, Egyptology, Nazis.” —London Review of Books

“Fascinating. . . . Engrossing. . . . The interaction of [the con man and the Harvard professor], 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.” —NPR

“Remarkable . . . gripping. . . . Essential reading even for those who havefollowed the case closely.” —The Times Literary Supplement

“Minutely researched and thoroughly absorbing. . . . A page- turner.” —The Christian Science Monitor

“A tour de force of investigative journalism.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Wild and propulsive. . . . 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." —Tampa Bay Times
 
“Extraordinary. . . . as good as a detective novel, possessing plot, subplots, hidden motives, bees in eccentric bonnets and startling revelations.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Veritas is a masterpiece.” —Jewish Review of Books

“A testament to the value of investigative journalism . . . full of shocking and revelatory moments.” —The Daily Beast

“An enthralling true-crime escapade. . . . Riveting.” —Shelf Awareness

“The plot features more twists and turns than a car chase.” —The Christian Century

“A dramatic tale of gullibility, deception, ideology and academic politics.” —Times Higher Education

“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. Here is a gallery of types that have surrounded Christianity since its earliest beginnings: the professionally cynical, the frankly mercenary, and the profoundly faithful. It is a tale that takes us from the offices of two Harvard presidents to, perhaps inevitably, that of a Florida pornographer. 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 marvelous?’ I was bowled over by it.” —Caitlin Flanagan, author of Girl Land
 
“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 Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors from Antiquity to the Present
 
“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 Catch Me If You Can

“Veritas is a fascinating journey into theology and academia, meticulously researched, well-written, consistently engaging.” —Gregg Easterbrook, author of It's Better Than It Looks

“[An] intriguing religious/true-crime story involving a possible wife of Jesus…[A] fascinating tale.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Sabar has written a true story of mystery and intrigue…blending religious history with a tale of deception…Well-researched, engrossing.” —Library Journal

“A work of exemplary narrative nonfiction . . . fitting neatly into the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction category. . . . Provocative and probing.” —Booklist (starred review)

“In this entertaining outing, journalist Sabar (My Father’s Paradise) tells the story of a mysterious scrap of papyrus and the scholar who staked her professional reputation on it… this meticulous account is packed with enough intrigue to keep readers piqued”  —Publisher’s Weekly