Posted on 02/26/2007 8:07:03 AM PST by Clive
JERUSALEM (AP) — Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by the Oscar-winning director James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets.
“The Lost Tomb of Christ,” which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries — small caskets used to store bones — discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.
One of the caskets even bears the title, “Judah, son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.
Most Christians believe Jesus’ body spent three days at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City. The burial site identified in Cameron’s documentary is in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood nowhere near the church.
In 1996, when the BBC aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.
“They just want to get money for it,” Kloner said.
The claims have raised the ire of Christian leaders in the Holy Land.
“The historical, religious and archaeological evidence show that the place where Christ was buried is the Church of the Resurrection,” said Attallah Hana, a Greek Orthodox clergyman in Jerusalem. The documentary, he said, “contradicts the religious principles and the historic and spiritual principles that we hold tightly to.”
Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film’s hypothesis holds little weight.
“I don’t think that Christians are going to buy into this,” Pfann said. “But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear.”
“How possible is it?” Pfann said. “On a scale of one through 10 — 10 being completely possible — it’s probably a one, maybe a one and a half.”
Pfann is even unsure that the name “Jesus” on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it’s more likely the name “Hanun.”
Kloner also said the filmmakers’ assertions are false.
“It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave,” Kloner said. “The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time.”
Archaeologists also balk at the filmmaker’s claim that the James Ossuary — the center of a famous antiquities fraud in Israel — might have originated from the same cave. In 2005, Israel charged five suspects with forgery in connection with the infamous bone box.
“I don’t think the James Ossuary came from the same cave,” said Dan Bahat, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University. “If it were found there, the man who made the forgery would have taken something better. He would have taken Jesus.”
Although the documentary makers claim to have found the tomb of Jesus, the British Broadcasting Corporation beat them to the punch by 11 years.
Osnat Goaz, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government agency responsible for archaeology, declined to comment before the documentary was aired.
His Hebrew name was actually Yeshua or Yehoshua.
I was a crypto custodian and analyst! My first take is these materials are the remains of none other than James Hoffa which were moved from their resting place at the 5 yard line in Giants stadium in the Meadowlands!
His intent is to niche sell to the same wacko crowd that buys moore's european america bashing books, algore's communist envirowako fairy tail, and that Denis Kucinich is running for president because he has a chance and not just for the federal matching funds.
Why would the power brokers of hollywood be so antichristian?
They attack before was that Christ did not exist.
Then the attack is trying to give gravitas to already proven forgery gospels.
If there is this much money in documentaries based on forgeries, IMAGINE what the money will be for the Arkansas to NYC Clintonista bully squad story.
Oops. I stand corrected.
I think Cameron is out to make money, nothing more, nothing less. Don't care what they say about me, as long as they spell my name right.
A lot of people will tune in to watch it, if only to be outraged and/or offended by it.
Hey, maybe James Cameron has heard about this Joshua fellow, and he can research whether there's a guy named "Joshua" mentioned in the Old Testament! (Have an assistant read the thing, perhaps.) If there is a "Joshua" in the Jewish Torah, and if the guy did anything important like, say, stop the sun in the sky by raising his arms, then gee whiz, it's possible that two thousand years ago there might have been at least a couple of Joshuas running around Jerusalem, no? Jesus/Yeshua/Joshua of Nazareth, and I don't know, maybe at least one other?
And if Cameron wants to research even further, he might find even today that there is one, or two, or maybe three thousand Jewish guys named Joshua, right here in New York!
I think Cameron might be able to solve the mystery of the "Joshua" gravesite, if he finds out that Jesus/Joshua was actually a common name for Jewish men in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago. But what do I know; I'm not a big important Hollywood director out to debunk the "opiate of the masses."
/sarcasm off/
What rot, as usual.
This thing has "scam" written all over it.
If you don't believe that Jesus existed, than what is your interest in this topic at all?
I don't think Gandalph the Gray existed either, but I still like discussing the Lord of the Rings.
thanks go to GoLightly and xcamel for compiling the list (thus far) of such topics:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1789769/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1789966/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790456/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1790579/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1790608/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1790818/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790884/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1790953/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791244/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1791251/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791352/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791365/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791383/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791513/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791544/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791583/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791588/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791610/posts
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.