Cameron defends Jesus tomb documentary

CTV News ^ | 2007-02-26 | (staff)

[Clive]

Oscar-winning director James Cameron defended on Monday his controversial new documentary, which claims that Jesus may have been buried with a wife and son, against charges the film was trying to undermine Christianity.

Instead, the documentary that claims the discovery of the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family celebrates their existence, Cameron said at a press conference announcing the documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus."

The message that Jesus delivered 2,000 years ago resounds even today, Cameron said.

"My feeling is that his message of compassion, humility, love and forgiveness is every bit as much needed now in this divisive, materialistic and war-torn world."

But church representatives and archeologists are rejecting the claims of a Canadian documentary filmmaker who says he has found the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family, a claim that would have profound implications for the Christian faith.

"I think this is more fanciful and absurd theorizing. Every Christian knows that Jesus, the son of God and man, died and rose again on Easter Sunday," said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Catholic Church in New York, where the news conference on the discovery will be held on Monday.

"No alleged DNA test or Hollywood film is going to change that," he told the New York Post.

Cameron and Emmy-award winning Toronto filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici

say that the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family has been found, a claim that would have profound implications for the Christian faith.

"This has been a three-year journey that seems more incredible than fiction," the Jacobovici said earlier. "The idea of possibly finding the tomb of Jesus and several members of his family, with compelling scientific evidence, is beyond anything I could have imagined."

The film suggests that ossuaries once containing the bones of Jesus and his family are now stored in a warehouse belonging to the Israel Antiquities Authority in Bet Shemesh, outside Jerusalem.

The tomb where the remains were found was unearthed in the Talpiot neighbourhood of Jerusalem during the construction of an apartment building in 1980.

During the excavation, archeologists found 10 ossuaries and three skulls. Six of the ossuaries had names inscribed into them: Jesus son of Joseph, Judah son of Jesus, Maria, Mariamne, Joseph and Matthew.

At the time, the finding raised few alarms, as these had been common names at the time of Jesus.

Years later, a BBC crew that stumbled across the collection in a store room belonging to the Israeli Antiquities Authorities began work program that focused on the tomb.

Jacobovici's documentary uses scientific methods, including DNA testing, statistical analysis and forensic examination, not available to the BBC 11 years ago.

If the claims are correct, and the tombs belonged to the holiest family in Christendom, the discovery could shake the foundations of the Christian faith with the speculation that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene.

DNA tests conducted for the documentary at Lakehead University on two ossuaries -- one inscribed Jesus son of Joseph and the other Mariamne, or Mary -- confirm that the two were not related by blood, so they were likely married.

"Perhaps Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married as the DNA results from the Talpiot ossuaries suggest and perhaps their union was kept secret to protect a potential dynasty - a secret hidden through the ages," narrator Ron White says in the documentary.

"A secret we just may be able to uncover in the holy family tomb."

Traditional Christian beliefs maintain that Jesus was physically resurrected to heaven while more liberal interpretations have permitted for a spiritual ascension.

The claims follow years of growing interest in the private life of Jesus, fuelled by the 2003 Dan Brown novel "The Da Vinci Code," which was made into a movie last year.

In Brown's novel, which was denounced by church figures around the world, Jesus is said to have married Mary Magdalene and sired a daughter.

Jacobovici has said the findings should not threaten anyone's belief in the resurrection, as he does not argue that Jesus did not ascend to heaven at least spiritually.

But critics are already speaking out against the documentary's claims.

"It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever," Amos Kloner, professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Kloner researched the tomb for the Israeli periodical Atiqot in 1996.

"The names . . . found on the tombs are names that are similar to the names of the family of Jesus. But those were the most common names found among Jews in the first centuries BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era)."

In The Lost Tomb, however, University of Toronto statistician Andre Feuerverger calculates that the chances of the names being found together are 600 to one.

He says that the Maria on one of the ossuaries is the mother of the Jesus found on another box, that Mariamne is his wife and that Joseph -- inscribed as the nickname Jose -- is his brother.

Jesus' mother was known after his death as Maria, the Latin form of Mary, as more Romans became followers. Mariamne is the Greek form of Mary. Mary Magdalene is believed to have spoken and preached in Greek. Jose was the nickname used for Jesus' little brother.

Furthermore, the tomb is the only site where ossuaries have been found with the names Mariamne and Jose, the documentary's creators claim.

Another famous ossuary, inscribed James son of Joseph brother of Jesus, is also featured in the documentary.

Of the 10 ossuaries found at Talpiot, one later went missing. Many experts have speculated the coffin is that of James, which was put on public display at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Furthermore, forensic testing of the patina on the Jesus ossuary and that of James concluded they came from the same tomb.

Feuerverger says that if James is added to the equation, there is a 30,000 to one chance that the Talpiot Tomb belonged to Jesus' family.

Another calculation, commissioned by James Tabor, chair of the department of religion studies at the University of North Carolina, puts the odds at one in 42 million.

Another researcher, whose work has focused on the Middle East, biblical anthropologist Joe Zias, has rejected the claims as "dishonest."

"It has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus, he was known as Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Jerusalem, and if the family was wealthy enough to afford a tomb, which they probably weren't, it would have been in Nazareth, not here in Jerusalem," Zias told CBS.

The $4-million documentary will air on Canada's Vision TV on March 6 and two days earlier on Discovery U.S.

The companion book, "The Jesus Family Tomb" (HarperCollins) by Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, has just been released.

[lastchance]

So let me ask. It of course would be impossible that some enterprising forger put the names on the boxes years, decades or even centuries after the boxes were placed in the tombs? I mean here is the proof that anti-Christians have always needed. Why wait so long to haul it out? Was it a double secret burial cave? Did the Apostles put up no trespassing signs? Did no one have the price of admission to view the bones of the Holy Family?

Can you imagine the time and trouble the Roman Empire and the Jewish religious authorities could have saved if they had just tossed those old bones down during the trials of the Martyrs? Seems that would have shut those pesky Christians up once and for all. Can you imagine Christians continuing to go willingly to their deaths by fire, sword, wild beasts, and other tortures; after being shown the bones of Christ. Yeah the first chapter of Masochists Annonymous will now come to order.

The whole hoopla is a hoax.

[rudy45]

He may have found the tomb. It may even be the tomb of Jesus. The key question is, are the remains of Jesus inside? Of course they aren't. 1 Cor 15:3-5.

[Malone LaVeigh]

"The idea of possibly finding the tomb of Jesus and several members of his family, with compelling scientific evidence, is beyond anything I could have imagined."

Compelling scientific evidence ... please!
This makes the GW claptrap seem absolutely einsteinian. Lay off the bong dude.

[cookcounty]

O boy. Bones of "William" and "Mary" found in Florida Citrus country. Therefore the King of England, William of Orange, probably retired to cultivate Valencias in Gatorland?

Look at the evidence: they had different DNA, right?

[eleni121]

I think Cameron like many others in the entertainment industry confuse fantasy and reality.

Another case of fantasitis.

[kenth]

lol... your first post

[HawaiianGecko]

I haven't read anything astonishing about this yet.  This gravesite was uncovered 27 years ago and Cameron is the only person to make the claim it is the grave of Christ.  Saturday I discovered a person with my exact name, my mother's exact name and the same name as my first wife...living less than 100 miles from me, and believe me, Jesus, Joseph and Mary are hundreds of times more common than my real name.  In fact I was a bit surprised to discover someone anywhere with my exact name. Most people introduced to me claim to have never met anyone with my first name and never even heard of my middle name.

Go to Mexico and you'll find thousands of people named Jesus fathered by a guy named Joseph.  For that matter, just go to Cooperstown, NY and visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.

[Sue Perkick]

Amen

[BelegStrongbow]

Is this your first username here or are you truly a first-day person giving advice on interpreting this kind of nonsense?

And I don't think giving reasonable caveats to what is clearly speculative 'science' is anything like jumping to conclusions. For my money, taking a few names which really were extremely common in Judaea any time between 300 BC and 100 AD, suggesting that because they occur together (as such names always would in a family tomb) they indicate one particular now-famous family and then even suggesting that there is credible DNA evidence in the case is the conclusion-jumping approach.

You wouldn't have had anything to do with making that 'film' would you?

[Sue Perkick]

You can't make this stuff up.


Oh wait....apparently you can!

[Ironfocus]

This is a storm in a teacup. The "evidence" is inconclusive at best, and at worst, shows that this tomb had nothing to do with the Biblical Jesus.

The DNA evidence is a case in point. They evaluated the mtDNA, which can only show maternal connections, between "Maria" (Mary?) and "Maraimne" (Mary Magadalene?), and concluded that since they were not family, it shows that one was married to "Jesus". That ignores a boatload of other possibilities, and just question-begs it into their "evidence".

[CottShop]

ah yes, in the end days the blind will lead the blind- lies will be seen as preferable to the truth- what's aazing though are the amount of people who will jump on this 'film' as though it were thje very Word of God itself instead of just reading and understanding the actual word of God.

The following link is a signature link and does not relate to this thread http://sacredscoop.com

[cookcounty]

"The $4-million documentary will air on Canada's Vision TV on March 6 and two days earlier on Discovery U.S."

And the "Science people" wonder why they're not taken seriously on global warming and evolution. Discovery, the National Geographic and others constantly speak in the name of "science" and the "scientific community" with no apparent objection from the scientists themselves.

When the AAAS speaks out warning the public that these outlets are prone to sensationalism, fraud and forgery, the AAAS will get some respect. So long as they are content to have themselves lumped together, they will be.

[Rodney King]

Obviously you are a paid publicist.

[Question_Assumptions]

As I just mentioned in an earlier thread, Simcha Jacobovici is an interesting character. As a Jew, he insists on the literal truth of the Old Testament (fair enough) and assumes that the Torah and tradition are correct unless proven otherwise (again, fair enough), but when it comes to Christian texts and sites, he magically finds his skeptics hat and is willing to believe the most unlikely of claims. He's got a definite agenda and bias in his works from what I've seen (his documentaries on Exodus and the Lost Tribes and The Naked Archaeologist). It's fair for a Jew to believe that Judaism is true and Christianity is false but it's not fair to apply a double standard and pretend to be unbiased and scientific.

[blinachka]

"I think this is more fanciful and absurd theorizing. Every Christian knows that Jesus, the son of God and man, died and rose again on Easter Sunday,"

While I agree with the spirit in which this is said, I would have said that every Christian believes (and knows) that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the Cross at Golgotha and was buried in a tomb and arose three days later (as foretold in the prophecies). It is for this reason we commemorate and celebrate His Resurrection on what came to be known Easter Sunday (The Feast of the Resurrection).

[cookcounty]

"All a DNA test will prove is that they found a tomb of people who were related - not a revolutionary find.

Actually, they're saying that the DNA shows Joseph and Mary were not related, (though they may well have been cousins), and they seem confused about the distinction between Miriam (Mary) of Nazareth and Miriam (Mary) of Magdala.

[joebuck]

"Jesus' mother was known after his death as Maria, the Latin form of Mary, as more Romans became followers. Mariamne is the Greek form of Mary. Mary Magdalene is believed to have spoken and preached in Greek. Jose was the nickname used for Jesus' little brother."

I would like to see some authority for these statements other that the writer's own imagination.

[ColdSteelTalon]

We Chritsians know that this is all part of a deception no matter what so called evidence he comes up with. Without Christ's death and resurection Christianity ceases to exit, and theose who are its enemies know it.

Thats why no matter how old the eveidence appears to be, or how authentic, it must be false because the disciples died for the testimony of Jesus and would have never confessed that Christ died and rose again and went to their deaths to prove it.

[BelegStrongbow]

I have been musing about 'Jose'. From the Bible I have, the name was 'Joses', which would be a name derived from Eqyptian, just as 'Moses' was. That it was repeated as 'Jose' in the article implies to me the author meant what he/she wrote, which I think implies the author does not know what he/she is talking about on this point.

I agree, however. I'd like to see a document that refers to Mary of Magdala as 'Mariamne'. The only one I know was executed by her husband, Herod the 'Great'.