New York Times Runs Easter Story Suggesting Resurrection Didn't Happen

Aleteia ^ | April 8, 2015 | JOHN BURGER

[NYer]

A few weeks ago, an Israeli geologist met with a reporter from the New York Times in the lobby of Jerusalem's King David Hotel. The geologist brought along evidence.

Just before Easter, the Times came out with his story.

The geologist, Aryeh Shimron, claims to have proof of a connection between a famous ossuary, or burial box for bones, and a tomb of in the environs of Jerusalem that, he believes, was the final resting place for Jesus of Nazareth, his wife and his family.

If he were right, his theory would call into question the truth of the Resurrection. The Times explained: 

Hailed by some as the most significant of all Christian relics but dismissed by skeptics amid accusations of forgery, misinterpretation and reckless speculation, two ancient artifacts found here have set off a fierce archaeological and theological debate in recent decades.

At the heart of the quarrel is an assortment of inscriptions that led some to suggest Jesus of Nazareth was married and fathered a child, and that the Resurrection could never have happened.

Now, the earth may have yielded new secrets about these disputed antiquities. A Jerusalem-based geologist believes he has established a common bond between them that strengthens the case for their authenticity and importance.

The story isn't new. It features an ossuary bearing the Aramaic inscription “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus,” which was the subject of a forgery trial over a decade ago, and a local tomb made famous in a James Cameron documentary that aired in 2007, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus." 

The burial chamber, which subsequently became known as the Talpiot Tomb, contained 10 ossuaries, some with inscriptions that have been interpreted as “Jesus son of Joseph,” “Mary” and other names associated with New Testament figures.

Granted, those and others in the tomb—Mary Magdalene, Matthew, and Judah—were very common names in Jesus' day. But Cameron, of Titanic fame, and fellow film-maker Simcha Jacobovici engaged the services of a statistician, who determined that the chance of finding these and other names, such as Matthew, were 1-in-600. 

The James ossuary is owned by an Israeli collector and is kept in a secret location. If it could be proven that it came from the Talpiot tomb, the addition of the names it bears to the cluster of names in the tomb would bolster the view that the site was the burial place that belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth.  

Shimron believes he is able to prove that theory through a geochemical match between "specific elements found in samples collected from the interiors of the Talpiot Tomb ossuaries and of the James ossuary," the Times reported on Holy Saturday.

When the Talpiot ossuaries were discovered, they were covered by a thick layer of a type of soil, Rendzina, that is characteristic of the hills of East Jerusalem and was apt to impose a unique geochemical signature on the ossuaries buried beneath it....

Dr. Shimron based his research on the theory that an earthquake that convulsed Jerusalem in A.D. 363 flooded the Talpiot Tomb with tons of soil and mud, dislodging its entrance stone and, unusually, covering the chalk ossuaries entirely.

“The soil created a kind of vacuum,” he said. “The composition of the tomb was simply frozen in time.”

For the last seven years, Dr. Shimron has been studying the chemistry of samples from chalk crust scraped from the underside of the Talpiot ossuaries and, more recently, from the James ossuary. He has also studied samples of soil and rubble from inside the ossuaries. In addition, for comparative purposes he has examined samples from ossuaries from about 15 other tombs.

Funding for the research came from a new production that Jacobovici is working on, and the Israel Antiquities Authority, which in 200 had called the inscription on the James ossuary a forgery, granted Shimron access to most of the other ossuaries.

The findings, says Shimron, clearly place the James ossuary in the same geochemical group as the ossuaries from the Talpiot Tomb, which is in a now-developed area southeast of Jerusalem. 

Oded Golan, the collector, gave Shimron access to his James ossuary for testing but said he was skeptical about the results.
 

For one thing, Mr. Golan said in a telephone interview, he bought the ossuary in 1976 at the latest, whereas the Talpiot Tomb was excavated in 1980....

Even if the chemistry is correct, the James ossuary could have come from another tomb in East Talpiot, Mr. Golan posited, adding that such research required samples from a much broader test base.

“It is very interesting but not enough to determine anything conclusively,” Mr. Golan said of Dr. Shimron’s work. “You would need samples from at least 200 to 300 caves.”
 

The new report was greeted with skepticism by a number of prominent Scripture scholars, including Ben Witherington, Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.

"We are not talking about a scientific sampling of enough ossuaries to draw such a conclusion," Witherington wrote on his Patheos blog. "The earthquake that struck Jerusalem presumably did not just affect the small region of Talpiot. It presumably affected quite a few areas around Jerusalem, and this news just in— the limestone soil in Jerusalem doesn’t seem to vary all that much from place to place. It’s perfectly possible that the same sort of subsidence or fill affect a wide variety of tombs in and around Jerusalem. Shimron at least admits that the James ossuary could at least have come from other tombs in east Jerusalem. I see no reason to limit the discussion to east Jerusalem if we are talking about a significant earthquake, which apparently we are."

Witherington also cautioned that Shimron has not published his results yet, nor has there been peer review of them by other scholars.

"But nonetheless, another Jacobvici movie is already in the works," he bantered. "This is not how proper and objective scholarship is done, either in terms of the financing, nor in terms of the announcements of results. You don’t sort of make a bombshell announcement of conclusions to the press on Easter weekend before other peers have had a chance to weigh in on the evidence, unless of course you are trying to make an impression of a certain sort. And there is little doubt that a certain agenda is being pursued here, as has been clear before with previous films, and in all likelihood with the forthcoming one. Disinterested pure science this is not."

"It's interesting how this story keeps coming back, especially at Easter time," said Mark Goodacre, professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University, in an email to Aleteia. "I don't think there is any merit in the identification of the Talpiot Tomb with Jesus and his family. All along, Jacobovici has not taken seriously contradictory evidence, like the presence of 'Judah son of Jesus' in the tomb."

Contradictory, he said, because there is no ancient evidence of Jesus having a son, let alone a son called Judah.

"He has also overplayed the idea that Mary Magdalene is found in the tomb, and that she was married to Jesus," Goodacre added.

In addition, he pointed out, Oded Golan, at his forgery trial (he was first convicted by later cleared), produced a photograph from 1976 which showed the James ossuary in his parents' apartment. "That means that it could not have come out of the Talpiot tomb, which was excavated in 1980," Goodacre said.

Deacon Stephen Miletic, professor of scripture at Franciscan University at Steubenville, said the Times article "presents a very non-credible case. Too many 'what ifs' need to work. If Jesus was from Nazareth, and, if his adoptive father Joseph died before his public ministry, then it is most likely Joseph would have have been buried in Nazareth. So, how did the 'family plot,' so to speak get to Jerusalem? Did Christians move them some time after Roman occupation? Any records of such a move (e.g., receipts of purchase for the land, etc.)?

"Also, the fact than many individuals shared common names makes it very difficult to track and link this back to Jesus," Deacon Miletic said in an email. "This is just a new rehearsal of an old theory that Jesus never died on the cross, that he died and was buried by, none other than, his own wife and children. This looks like a typical move for attention, perhaps even financial gain driven by controversy."

In the July/August 2007 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, editor Hershel Shanks described the idea that the James Ossuary came from the Talpiot tomb as “nonsense.”
 
“It all depends on Jesus’ body having been moved after his initial burial in the rock-cut family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea,”  Shanks wrote. “The overwhelming likelihood is that this tomb was located where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands. If Jesus already had a family tomb in Talpiot, there would be no need to bury him in a temporary tomb, despite the onset of the Sabbath. It’s little more than a half-hour’s walk from Golgotha to Talpiot.

[NYer]

"It's interesting how this story keeps coming back, especially at Easter time," said Mark Goodacre, professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University.

Jimmy Akin wrote an extensive article on this ossuary.

In 2002 a unique archaeological find was announced: a limestone ossuary (bone box) that may have held the remains of James the “brother” of Jesus. The box dates to first century Palestine and is inscribed in Jesus’ native language, Aramaic, with the words “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

Bad Aramaic Made Easy

[jimbug]

The writers of this story should pay attention to Jesus’ warning:

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
(Matthew 18:6)

[RichInOC]

Even if his argument were true, how would he ever be able to prove it?

[Zionist Conspirator]

Catholics have written plenty of articles/books/commentaries suggesting that the events of Genesis 1-11 (and the Book of Jonah . . . and the Book of Daniel . . . and the Book of Esther) didn't happen.

What's the difference?

[corlorde]

for later

[easternsky]

Then if any man shall say unto you Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not KJV. Matt 24: 23. 24,25,26. referring to the coming but same meaning.

[Alex Murphy]

Catholics have written plenty of articles/books/commentaries suggesting that the events of Genesis 1-11 (and the Book of Jonah . . . and the Book of Daniel . . . and the Book of Esther) didn't happen. What's the difference?

You already provided us with the answer - they were written by Catholics.

[piusv]

The next day, the one following the day of preparation,* the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 c and said, “Sir, we remember that this impostor while still alive said, ‘After three days I will be raised up.’ 64 Give orders, then, that the grave be secured until the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ This last imposture would be worse than the first.”* 65 Pilate said to them, “The guard is yours;* go secure it as best you can.” 66 So they went and secured the tomb by fixing a seal to the stone and setting the guard.

I see they're still trying to convince others that Jesus was an "imposter".

[Salvation]

Pretty slimy of them. Pun intended.

[Salvation]

I haven’t heard all of those put together.

HMMMMM>

[centurion316]

My faith is not challenged by the New York Times, they have so many times have been so profoundly in error that I found the notion laughable.

[Billthedrill]

"It's interesting how this story keeps coming back, especially at Easter time..."

Yes, isn't it? You might almost think it was deliberate or something.

[ealgeone]

I believe this rumor started shortly after the crucifixion. Paid off a couple of Roman guards to say the Body was stolen.

Nothing new here....move along.

[piusv]

Exactly.

[Tax-chick]

The funny thing is that they think they’re so original.

[the_daug]

Hmmm! Would that mean they are trying to make Jesus a liar?

[hinckley buzzard]

They didn't have a potentially lucrative movie deal to hype, like this modern psychopath does.

[MNDude]

Jesus and his family sure had a lot of burial sites. It looks like the mainstream media find a new burial site belonging to them every year.

[Unam Sanctam]

Alex’s typical kneejerk anti-Catholic bigotry notwithstanding, there is obviously some room for interpretation on the manner in which the Genesis stories of the beginning demonstrate the truths God means to teach us through Genesis. On the other hand, if Jesus is not physically raised from the dead, then, as St. Paul says, our faith is in vain.