Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Who is Buried in Jesus' Tomb?

If you haven't heard by now (and I don't see how that is possible), James Cameron's latest documentary is about a collection of tombs believed to hold the remains of Jesus ... and his family. 

Slated to air on the Discovery Channel this coming Sunday, The Lost Tomb of Jesus purports to present evidence that a tomb uncovered by a construction crew in Talpiot, Jerusalem, in March of 1980, contains 10 ossuaries (limestone bone boxes). And that five of those ossuaries contain the remains of key figures in the New Testament (Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene) and that another one holds "Judah Son of Jesus." 

 As expected, Biblical scholars and experts are questioning -- if not altogether rejecting -- the documentary's claims. And there is all sorts of chatter about the event on the blogosphere and mailing lists. One of the better responses to the story comes from the skeptical Smijer, who reminds us all of what skepticism isn't while pointing out truly skeptical responses to the film. I'm not jumping on any bandwagon either for or against the documentary. But I will probably watch the documentary, if I am home that evening, and only to give it a fair shake. Besides, I already blogged about Jesus' tomb back in December of 2004 -- only this one is in Japan, where local tradition claims Christ died as a humble garlic farmer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a little surprised that this "ground breaking documentary" was not released a little closer to Easter.

In my opinion that was a marketing mistake.

Brainwise said...

I completely agree with you there, Buck. This thing has been launched on the wrong side of Lent. Remember when the Gospel of Judas went public? Now *that* was timing!