28th February, 2007
DAVID ADAMS

Controversial claims that the tomb of Jesus and his family may have been discovered in Israel have been met with scepticism by Biblical scholars and archaeologists with some even suggesting it may be a well-crafted publicity stunt riding on the success of the recent novel, The Da Vinci Code.

The claims will be aired in a television documentary on the Discovery Channel in the US on Sunday. Called The Lost Tomb of Jesus, it was produced by former Titanic director James Cameron and centres on claims that a tomb discovered in Jerusalem more than two decades ago may have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

JERUSALEM: It was in the suburb of Talpiot, in the city's southeast, that the tomb was found in 1980. PICTURE: Gunars Tisons (www.sxc.hu) “Basically this is old news with a new interpretation," says New Testament scholar Dr Ben Witherington. "We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. There are all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much.”

The tomb in question, which dates from the first century, was accidentally discovered in the suburb of Talpiot during a construction project in 1980. It contained 10 limestone ossuaries or coffins, six of which inscribed with names. These have since been deciphered as “Jesus son of Joseph”, “Maria”, Mariamene e Mara”, “Matthew”, “Yose” and “Judah, son of Jesus”.

The documentary, which is being accompanied by the launch of a book provocatively called The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, The Investigation, and The Evidence That Could Change History, says that among the evidence it was the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family is a statistical study which has concluded it was “600 to 1 in favour of this being the Jesus family tomb”.

It also says analysis of DNA found on human remains in two of the coffins suggest Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a couple and may have had a son together called Judah.

In a press conference held in New York this week, Cameron unveiled two of the coffins which he said were those of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

The director described the find as the “biggest archaeological story of the century”.

“It is absolutely not a publicity stunt,” he said. Earlier, in a statement, Cameron said that “it doesn’t get much bigger than this”.

“We’ve done our homework; we’ve made the case; and now it’s time for the debate to begin.”

The debate certainly has begun with news of the sensational claims making headlines around the world this week. Many Biblical scholars and archaeologists have expressed their scepticism.

Leading Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner, who oversaw work at the tomb, has dismissed the claims as “nonsense” and says there is no chance that this is the tomb of Jesus Christ.

“I deny it completely,” he told ABC radio this week.

He’s one of a group of seven scholars who have joined in describing the find as “bogus”.

“It will make good TV and involves a bad critical reading of history,” says another of the scholars, Dr Ben Witherington - author of What Have They Done With Jesus? and New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in the US.

“Basically this is old news with a new interpretation. We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. There are all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much.”

The scholars say there are at least 10 reasons which the claim that it is the tomb of Jesus is false. These include that there is no DNA evidence this is the historical Jesus of Nazareth, that the name Jesus was a popular name in the first century - appearing on 98 other tombs and 21 other ossuaries, there is no historical evidence Jesus ever married or had a son and that Jesus’ followers never called him “Jesus, son of Joseph”.

In his blog, Dr Witherington says that several of the ossuaries have very popular and familiar early Jewish names.

“This is the ancient equivalent of finding adjacent tombs with the names Smith and Jones,” he writes. “No big deal”.

Dr Witherington says there are numerous historical problems with the claims - including that there is no historical evidence Jesus was ever married or that He had a son.

On its website, the producers claim that the documentary does not challenge the belief that Jesus was resurrected from the dead three days after his crucifixion - a central tenet of the Christian faith.

It states that even if Jesus’ body were moved from its original tomb - a rumour mentioned but discounted in the Biblical Book of Matthew - “this does not means that he could not have been resurrected from the second tomb”.

It also said that if Jesus’ mortal remains were found in the coffin, this would contradict the idea of His physical ascension to heaven but not that of a “spiritual ascension”, an idea it says is “consistent with Christian theology”.

~ www.discovery.com/tomb

~ http://benwitherington.blogspot.com