A G K Y R A

At the Society of Biblical Literature website, Jodi Magness, a well-known archaeologist and professor at the University of North Carolina, has written a devastating critique of the “Tomb of Jesus” claims of James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici. She says, “[B]y making this announcement in the popular media, Jacobovici, Cameron, and the others involved have chosen to circumvent the usual academic process. … [I]t is impossible to explain the many flaws of their claim in a one-minute segment on TV or the radio, or in 2-3 sentences in the newspaper, as I have been asked to do repeatedly since the announcement was made.”

So she now takes the time to explain all the helpful details to us. After a fascinating tutorial on ancient Jewish burial customs, we learn, for example, why Jesus’ bones couldn’t possibly have ended up in an ossuary, why his ostensible family tomb would not have been located in Jerusalem, and why the names on the ossuaries clearly don’t refer to Galileans such as Jesus was. In other words, we learn why the scholars who have been aware of the Talpiyot tomb and ossuaries for 20 years never rushed to announce that they had found the tomb of Jesus–they knew they hadn’t.

Professor Magness concludes:

This claim [of James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici] is also inconsistent with all of the available information — historical and archaeological — about how Jews in the time of Jesus buried their dead, and specifically the evidence we have about poor, non-Judean families like that of Jesus. It is a sensationalistic claim without any scientific basis or support.

Sensation-making pop journalists and movie producers are birds of feather. Don’t you be a sucker.

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This is a follow-on to my previous post. Michael D. Williams’ Far as the Curse is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption is an outstanding outline and introduction to the plot of human history and the story the Bible tells. I can’t believe I forgot to recommend my own teacher’s book!

It starts with the Resurrection of Jesus (”The Single Best Page of the Story”) and then jumps back to creation, the fall of humankind, Abraham and the patriarchs, the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai, and so on up to the eschaton (yet to come!), “The Renewal of All Things.”

I don’t have time now to review it, but if you want to understand the Bible and the message of Christianity, this is the one I would read.