[Apologetics] Clergy, scholars assail tomb of Jesus film

[Art Kelly]

Monday, February 26, 2007
 
UPDATED: 3:54 PM 
Clergy, scholars assail tomb of Jesus film 

NEW YORK (AP) — Filmmakers and researchers on Monday
unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have
once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary
Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims
made in a new documentary as unfounded and
contradictory to basic Christian beliefs.

“The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” produced by Oscar-winning
director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on
the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets
discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held
the bones of Jesus and his family.

One of the caskets even bears the title, “Judah, son
of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus may have had a son,
according to the film.

“There’s a definite sense that you have to pinch
yourself,” Cameron said Monday at a news conference.
He told NBC’S “Today” show earlier that statisticians
found “in the range of a couple of million to one” in
favor of the documentary’s conclusions about the
caskets, or ossuaries.

Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed
the film, said that a name on one of the ossuaries —
“Mariamene” — offers evidence that the tomb is that of
Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts,
“Mariamene” is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said.

The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would
contradict the Christian belief that he was
resurrected and ascended to heaven.

Most Christians believe Jesus’ body spent three days
at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem’s Old City. The burial site identified in
Cameron’s documentary is in a southern Jerusalem
neighborhood nowhere near the church.

In 1996, when the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a
short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists
challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first
archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails
to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for
profitable television.

“They just want to get money for it,” Kloner said.

Shimon Gibson, one of three archaeologists who first
discovered the tomb in 1980, said Monday of the film’s
claims: “I’m skeptical, but that’s the way I am. I’m
willing to accept the possibility.”

The film’s claims, however, have raised the ire of
Christian leaders in the Holy Land.

Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of
the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the
documentary, said the film’s hypothesis holds little
weight.

“I don’t think that Christians are going to buy into
this,” Pfann said. “But skeptics, in general, would
like to see something that pokes holes into the story
that so many people hold dear.”

“How possible is it?” Pfann said. “On a scale of one
through 10 — 10 being completely possible — it’s
probably a one, maybe a one and a half.”

Pfann is even unsure that the name “Jesus” on the
caskets was read correctly. He thinks it’s more likely
the name “Hanun.” Ancient Semitic script is
notoriously difficult to decipher.

Kloner also said the filmmakers’ assertions are false.
“The names on the caskets are the most common names
found among Jews at the time,” he said.

William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology
and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli
archeologists for five decades, said specialists have
known about the ossuaries for years.

“The fact that it’s been ignored tells you something,”
said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of
Arizona. “It would be amusing if it didn’t mislead so
many people.”

Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government
agency responsible for archaeology, said the
Antiquities Authority agreed to send two ossuaries to
New York, but they did not contain human remains. “We
agreed to send the ossuaries, but it doesn’t mean that
we agree with” the filmmakers, she said. 



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