The Jesus Family Tomb

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Cover of The Jesus Family Tomb.

The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (ISBN 0061192023) is a controversial book by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles R. Pellegrino (with a Foreword by James Cameron) published in February 2007. It tells the story of the discovery of the Talpiot Tomb and makes an argument that it is the tomb of Jesus Christ and his "family."

The book is a tie-in with the documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, which was released on the Discovery Channel in early March 2007.

1 The Names in the Tomb
2 The Tenth Ossuary
3 Controversy
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] The Names in the Tomb

The tomb in Talpiot, excavated in 1980^[1] during salvage archaeology, originally contained ten ossuaries - bone boxes for secondary burial. Of the ten, one disappeared - presumably stolen. Of the other nine, six were inscribed with names:

Yeshua bar Yosef - inscription in Aramaic, meaning "Jesus son of Joseph." By itself, it does not constitute conclusive evidence, since there must have been over a thousand men named "Yeshua bar Yosef" in first-century Jerusalem.^{[citation needed]} However, the other five names are all allegedly connected with the New Testament Jesus.
"Mariamne, also known as Mara," an inscription in Greek. Mariamne is another name of Mary Magdalene according to the Acts of Phillip. "Mara" could be the Aramaic word for "Lord" or "Master," the Hebrew name meaning "Bitter" (found in Ruth 1:20), or a nickname, a shortened version of "Mariamne."
Maria - a name apparently in Latin, but written in Hebrew letters.
Yosa - believed to be the same as Ioses or Joses, the name of one of the brothers of Jesus listed in the New Testament's book of Mark (6:3). Yosa is the diminutive of Yosef similar to Joey being the diminutive of Joseph in English. Such a name has not been found in any ossuary other than this and it is noteworthy that the ossuary was that of an adult. Hence, the book speculates, this would be a strong indication that Yosa would be the son of Yosef, or Yeshua's brother ("Yeshua bar Yosef") just as in Mark.
Yehuda bar Yeshua - "Judah, son of Jesus." (Inscription in Aramaic). Otherwise unknown. According to the authors, same as Jude, known also as Thomas, the "Twin." Among the several theories presented in the book is that he was the son of Jesus, but was publicly presented as the brother of Jesus, in order to save him from being executed as a pretender to the throne of Israel. He was known as "Twin" (Thomas, Didymus, etc.) presumed to be his brother but really his father.
Matiah - a name in Hebrew, the original form of the names of the apostles Matthew and Matthias. His presence in the family tomb implies he was also a relative of Jesus, as were some of the other apostles.

[edit] The Tenth Ossuary

The authors present a case for the ossuary of James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus (Yaakov ben Yosef akhui diYeshua). This controversial relic, accepted as legitimate by some, however is believed by the majority of the field as fraudulent. These doubts are the result of the ossuary being unprovenanced -that is, not found in a legitimate excavation. The book presents what the authors purport to be firm scientific evidence that the James ossuary is the missing tenth ossuary from the Talpiot tomb. If this is confirmed by scientific scrutiny, the ossuary will have to be accepted as legitimate, and the Talpiot tomb confirmed as belonging to the Holy Family.

[edit] Controversy

Not only are some the names on the bone boxes relatively common names, but no writings of Jesus' life, canonical or apocryphal, reported a marriage or children. The authenticity of the nine remaining ossuaries, and of the names inscribed on them, is under no doubt or suspicion. However, the identities of these people are open to much controversy and debate. They are either nine otherwise unknown Jewish people from first-century Jerusalem, or Jesus himself and, presumably, eight members of his family. Recently, some of the scholars quoted in the Discovery Channel documentary have issued strong clarifications, backtracking on some of the central claims made in the film and book. Namely, University of Toronto statistician Professor Andrey Feuerverger, whose conservative statistical analysis claimed that the odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the burial site of Jesus' family, has clarified his opinion, saying that these odds relate to the chances that these particular names would be found in one tomb, and not to the particular identification of individuals in the tomb.^[2]

Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner, who was among the first to examine the tomb when it was first discovered, said the names marked on the coffins were very common at the time. "I don't accept the news that it was used by Jesus or his family," he told the BBC News website. "The documentary filmmakers are using it to sell their film."^{[citation needed]}

Following a symposium at Princeton in January 2008 the media interest in the Talpiot tomb was reignited with most notably Time^[3] and CNN^[4] devoting extensive coverage, hailing the case as being re-opened. Following the media's portrayal scholars present at the symposium accused Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron for misleading the media in claiming the symposium re-opened their theory as viable. Several scholars, including significantly all of the archaeologists and epigraphers, who had delievered papers at the symposium issued an open letter of complaint at misrepresentation, saying that Jacobovici and Cameron's claims of support from the symposium are 'nothing further from the truth'^[5].

The list of scholars included:

Professor Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Professor Eric M. Meyers, Duke University Choon-Leon Seow, Princeton Theological Seminary F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Princeton Theological Seminary Lee McDonald, Princeton Theological Seminary, visiting Rachel Hachlili, Haifa University Motti Aviam, University of Rochester Amos Kloner, Bar Ilan University Christopher Rollston, Emmanuel School of Religion Shimon Gibson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Joe Zias, Science and Antiquity Group, Jerusalem Jonathan Price, Tel Aviv University C.D. Elledge, Gutavus Adolphus College

[edit] References

The statement that all of the archaeologists, epigraphers, scientists involved in the Princeton's Jerusalem Symposium regard the Talpiot Tomb case as discredited and closed is not accurate and is, at best, somewhat biased and unbalanced. While most of those named in the letter of protest are legitimate scientists of high standing who are providing good counter-arguments, the statement that all scientists/archaeologists involved in the January 2008 symposium have denounced the observations of Ruth Gat and the legitimancy of the Talpiot Tomb discovery is patently false. No polls of opinions were ever taken, either during or after the symposium. There were in fact 65 scientists attending the symposium and submitting papers for the Proceedings. I am one of them, and along with at least five other archaeologists personally known to me from the proceedings, our interpretations of the evidence run counter to the twelve - who but fractionally represent the attendees.

- - Charles Pellegrino, June 6, 2008  (NOTE: This is the second time I have posted this answer. The fist posting was evidently censored out of existence based on a string of protests that have included accusations that I am really Simcha J. or James Cameron and not Dr. Charles Pellegrino. So much for "Fair and Balanced," and for open discussion of ideas.)