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NAILS controversially linked to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ have fragments of ancient bone and wood embedded in them, a bombshell new study has revealed. The nails were allegedly found in Jerusalem, in a first-century burial cave believed to be the resting place of Caiaphas - the Jewish priest who sent Jesus to his death in the Bible. At some point after the cave was excavated in 1990, however, the nails went missing. Years later, filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici claimed to have found the nails, even saying that they were used to crucify Jesus himself in the 2011 documentary, Nails Of...

I'm not exactly a Biblical scholar, so be a little gentle with the flames. I was watching Passion of the Christ yesterday for Easter (my third time seeing it), and a thought occurred to me. Both the movie and the Gospels note that Pilate tried, repeatedly, to not sentence Jesus to death. His wife lobbied for Jesus, he declared "this man has done nothing", he sent him to Herod declaring him not guilty, and he even tried the once-a-year prisoner release gambit. At every turn, the high priests and the crowd pushed for his death. Even after finding him guilty...

Yosef bar Caifa Scientists at a university in Israel believe they have discovered an ancient burial box belonging to the family of the high priest who played a part in the crucifixion of Jesus as described in the Bible.The burial box, or ossuary, was recovered from looters three years ago by the Israel Antiquities Authority.On close examination the ossuary was found to have a rare inscription mentioning the names "Miriam," "Yeshua," and "Caiaphus."Once the inscription was authenticated, archaeologists were astounded by what they had found.According to researchers, the Caiaphus mentioned in the carved-in inscription may very well be the same...

From the news... A limestone burial box, almost 2,000 years old, may provide the oldest archeological record of Jesus of Nazareth. Of interest in the news today, the announcement of an archaeological find of potentially great significance: an ossuary (stone box) bearing the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus". The practice of transferring bones from expensive tombs into ossuaries existed from around 20 B.C. to 70 A.D., and the inscription on the newly recovered ossuary was in a form of written Aramaic used only between about 10 A.D. and 70 A.D. Other scientific tests affirm the antiquity of...

Jesus Christ may be the most famous man who ever lived. But how do we know he did? Most theological historians, Christian and non-Christian alike, believe that Jesus really did walk the Earth. They draw that conclusion from textual evidence in the Bible, however, rather than from the odd assortment of relics parading as physical evidence in churches all over Europe. That's because, from fragments of text written on bits of parchment to overly abundant chips of wood allegedly salvaged from his crucifix, none of the physical evidence of Jesus' life and death hold up to scientific scrutiny.  [Who Was...

JERUSALEM -- Israeli scholars say they have confirmed the authenticity of a 2,000-year-old burial box bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas of the New Testament. The ossuary bears an inscription with the name "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri." An ossuary is a stone chest used to store bones. Caiaphas was a temple priest and an adversary of Jesus who played a key role in his crucifixion. The Israel Antiquities Authority says the ossuary was seized from tomb robbers three years ago and has since been undergoing analysis....

Rare, detailed inscription is genuine, says a TAU researcherIn Jerusalem and Judah, ancient limestone burial boxes containing skeletal remains — called ossuaries — are fairly common archaeological finds from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century AD period. Forgers have also added inscriptions or decorations to fraudulently increase their value. So three years ago, when the Israel Antiquities Authority confiscated an ossuary with a rare inscription from antiquities looters, they turned to Prof. Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology to authenticate the fascinating discovery. Prof. Goren, who worked in collaboration with Prof. Boaz Zissu from Bar...

JERUSALEM – Israeli scholars say they have confirmed the authenticity of a 2,000-year-old burial box bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas of the New Testament. The ossuary bears an inscription with the name "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri." To confirm the authenticity of the ossuary, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who discovered the ancient burial box turned to Dr. Boaz Zissu of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology of Bar Ilan University and Professor Yuval Goren of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient...

Journalist Simcha Jacobovici believes that the nails discovered in a Jerusalem cave are revolutionary in their implications regarding the birth of Christianity. The Peace Forest is a small grove of pines sandwiched between the Abu Tor neighborhood and main promenade in Jerusalem. Anyone walking along the road that snakes through the grove can see a green pipe rising from the ground and reaching a height of several meters. This pipe, if journalist Simcha Jacobovici is to be believed, this is the physical tip of an archaeological detective story in the style of the Da Vinci Code. And this pipe is...

Being excommunicated for apostasy by the Mormon church is one thing, but Lyndon Lamborn is livid that his stake president has ordered bishops in eight Mesa wards to take the rare step of announcing disciplinary action against him to church members today. "I thought if he could go public, so can I," said Lamborn, a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who said his research into church history gave him "thousands of reasons the church can't be what it claims to be." Stake President R. James Molina acknowledged Friday he intends to have Lamborn's excommunication...

His name was Joseph Caiaphas. At the time of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion he had been the high priest of the Temple in Jerusalem and, as the Gospels tell us, was instrumental in Jesus’ arrest. Later, he persecuted some in the early Jerusalem Church before he was dismissed from his post as the high priest by Lucius Vitellius, the consul and governor of Syria under Tiberius. When he died, though he was no longer the high priest, Caiaphas was still a man of privilege. He had married into the powerful high-priestly family of Annas and he was undoubtedly a man...

CHOOSING BARABBAS   by James Kiefer   "Not this man, but Barabbas!" It is often said that Christianity is at its roots anti-Jewish, that it encourages hatred for Jews by teaching that they are responsible for the death of Jesus. Moreover, it is said, this is not just a distortion of the Christian faith by a few misguided fanatics -- it is the teaching of the New Testament itself. In this essay, I should like to examine in what sense, if any, this is so. Before examining the question of how the Christian Scriptures interpret the events, where they...