Slurs Against Religious Opponents and Makin’ Stuff Up

In yesterday’s post I detailed the scurrilous accusations made by the 4th century heresy-hunter (i.e., “heresiologist”) Epiphanius against a group of Christian “heretics” he calls the Phibionites.  Among other things, he claims they used a Gospel that depicted Jesus engaging in a bizarre sex-act with Mary Magdalene.  But then I asked whether there really was a Gospel that described such a thing and if the Phibionites themselves were engaged in the kind of activities Epiphanius alleges.  He claim...