Given that the forthcoming documentary about the "Jesus Tomb" has captured the attention of biblical studies bloggers, I thought I would catalogue some of the responses that have been made by respected scholars. It is my sincere hope that we are not witnessing the davincification of studies of early Christianity with scholars willing to entertain imaginative and groundless theories about recent archaeological discoveries (which really aren't that recent at all) in order to seek fame and fortune.For an introduction see Michael Pahl, otherwise check out the following responses:
Mark Goodacre
Richard Bauckham
Darrell Bock
Scot McKnight
Ben Witherington
Christianity Today article
For those who crave more information about the Talpiot tomb, I imagine that Tom Wright and Bart Ehrman will probably both have a book out on the subject by the end of next week!
My own response consists of a paraphrase of Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damnable lies, and then there are ossuary statistics!
I leave you with a quote from Ben Witherington: "Make no bones about it--they have not found Jesus' tomb."
1 comment:
What upsets me is that I'll be asked to explain this in class for years to come--what a waste of time!
The whole theory is ridiculous though because (among other things) it assumes that Jesus' family, who asserted that he had risen, went to the risk of removing his bones from whatever secret location they had hid them, took them into the middle of Jerusalem, placed them in a box, and wrote his name on it! That's absurd!
It would be comical if so many people weren't confused because of this.
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