[fatima]

Thank you for this post Kaiwen.

[txzman]

The way this story was originally researched and released in Biblical Archaeology Review, you would've figured they would have gotten their facts straight.

[reformed_democrat]

Some more news on the ossuary. The Biblical Archaeology Review's findings are being questioned.

[reformed_democrat]

The ossuary is being debated again. This time, the experts seem to believe the inscription (or at least part of it) may be a forgery.

Please don't tell berned we're here. He works my nerves something awful.

[crystalk]

There is not the slightest reason to think this is not genuine. The Jews of the day wanted to keep it very simple and avoid elaborate eulogies, statements of how great the person was, how he had died, who all paid for the funeral, and the likes. All these things the heathen did.

Thus the rather expensive ossuaries said ONLY "A, Son of B." That is ALL!

Prior to this case, we knew of only one ossuary in all Second Temple Judaism that went on to say, "brother of C." Such an addition would only have been made if C was so well known as to be the best identifier of just which A we are talking about, better than his own father.

From what we know of the history of early Christianity, it could well be that it was only after the death of James, at some later point, that someone deemed Jesus to be famous enough to merit such an additional script. Also, the ossuary could have been bought by James years before his death, pre-need as it were, and here again the additional word added only after death, an afterthought.

[Bohemund]

Has anyone considered the possibility that, in the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," "brother of Jesus" might modify Joseph, not James?

If so, it would not be the ossuary of James the Just.

[narses]

ping

[Cicero]

I didn't believe it when I first read about it. I believed it less when reports came out about the two different handwritings. I'm pleased that the experts are now pretty nearly unanimous that it's a fake.

The enemies of Christianity love to do this kind of stuff. I remember when the Dead Sea Scrolls first came out, they were all convinced that it would prove that Christianity was a fake. Now it's pretty evident that the Dead Sea Scrolls are documents that prove very little about anything, except for the activities of a small group of Essenes.

[Salvation]

It's amazing when more details come out, isn't it?

[SunkenCiv]

A Blast from the Past.

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