The Jesus Tomb?

Many of you may have seen the news programs advertising the forthcoming "new" documentary that will be airing on the Discovery Channel this coming Sunday night at 8pm (Central time). James Cameron (who has directed such blockbusters as The Terminator and The Titanic) has collaborated with Simcha Jacobovici (TV's Naked Archaeologist) to produce this documentary, which is actually anything but "new." The show revisits a 26 year old tomb, known as the Talpiot tomb, for the purposes of "proving" that Jesus of Nazareth's remains are contained therein, alongside the bones of Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah, or so the program wants us to believe.

Cameron's and Jacobovici's thesis is nothing but the same old line that has been promulgated by the Jesus Seminar and that has, most recently found expression in the Da Vinci Code book and movie. As I tried to show in my discussion of the Da Vinci Code last June, these claims are way off base. But they do make for good television! (From a worldly perspective anyway!)

What are we to say about this new documentary?

Dr. Ligon Duncan, of First Jackson recently sent out the following to the officers of the church there:

Andreas Köstenberger (a Prof of NT at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC) says this:

"As you’ve heard, James Cameron, director of the blockbuster movie 'Titanic,' is out to sink an even bigger ship—Christianity. He claims that Jesus’ bones and those of his mother, brothers, wife, and child named Jude, were found in ossuaries (bone boxes) in a Jerusalem tomb.
On Larry King Live last night, Cameron and his collaborator Simcha Jacobovici claimed that they produced a TV documentary (to air on March 4 on the Discovery Channel) simply in an effort to 'report the news' so that people can draw their own conclusion. Yet according to Ben Witherington, Simcha is a practicing, orthodox Jew. Are we really to believe that the 'revelation' that Jesus’ bones have been found—hence no resurrection—are of no religious concern to this man? To me, at least, this one has the almighty dollar sign written all over it.

"Let me list just some of the most egregious problems with the way in which this find (in the 1980s!) is being interpreted by Cameron and Simcha:

· the claim that Mary Magdalene’s bones were found in one of the ossuaries on the basis that the name 'Mariamne' (Mary) is inscribed on it is bogus; the connection drawn here is pulled completely out of thin air

· the highly suspect use of statistics and DNA 'evidence' to support their case; Jesus, Joseph, and Mary were among the most popular names in first-century Palestine, and, of course, people buried in the same family tomb would for the most part be related; as Witherington rightly points out, we 'would need an independent control sample from some member of Jesus’ family to confirm that these were members of Jesus’ family'—but, of course, we have no such thing

· all the earliest accounts of Jesus’ death and burial indicate that Jesus’ body could not be found and had not been moved; there is no ancient evidence at all for a Jesus’ family tomb whatsoever

· why would this family tomb have been in Jerusalem? Jesus was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth

· there is no historical evidence for Jesus having a son named Jude; there is no credible historical evidence that Jesus was married, to Mary Magdalene or anyone else (plus see the first point above)

· if Jesus died and a year later his bones were transferred to an ossuary, and this ossuary was placed in a Jerusalem family tomb, this would mean that all the early Christian martyrs, including the apostles, knowingly died for a fraudulent religion; this is highly implausible.

"It is hard to know whether one should dignify this kind of warmed-up sensationalist commercial ploy with a serious rebuttal. Why would an orthodox Jew and an unbelieving Hollywood producer time the release of a television documentary denying Jesus’ resurrection just prior to Easter? Because of serious scholarship or maximum personal profit?

"Simcha says we Christians should be open to the evidence he presents. I agree; if Jesus’ bones are in that box, Christianity is based on a false premise—the resurrection of Jesus (see the Gospel resurrection narratives; the apostles’ preaching in the Book of Acts; and Paul’s summary of the gospel in 1 Cor. 15:3–4). The problem with Simcha’s 'evidence,' however, is that he is connecting the dots far too quickly to arrive at his desired conclusion. Surely it will take better evidence to overturn the well-attested fact of Jesus’ resurrection."

Here are some other websites to scan for responses to Cameron and Jacobovici:

Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus’ Family Tomb, What Do They Share?, Darell Bock.

The Jesus Tomb? ‘Titanic’ Talpiot Tomb Theory Sunk From the Start, Ben Witherington.

Greg Koukl opened his show Sunday discussing tactics Christians should take on this issue. Here is the audio link (you may need to register to hear it).

The Jesus Tomb, Andreas Köstenberger. (This is the site from which I got the above quote).

Ben Witherington was on Issues, Etc. (2/28/07) and here is the audio link.