Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Jesus Tomb--Buried Already


Dr. Ben Witherington, an eminently qualified scholar, has a terrific piece about the current furor over The Jesus Tomb.

If you want answers, go here.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:13 PM

    I guess it is true that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

    So far, only the press in Witherington's native Kentucky have delicately raised the issue of the pot calling the kettle bla...that is, the pot calling the ossuary cracked in Witherington’s overheated protestations (the gentleman protests too much, methinks)against the latest “biggest New Testament find”* in his lifetime.


    Lexington County Herald, 2/27/07
    http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/nation/16791591.htm

    On his blog, Witherington fired a final salvo by referring to the Titanic and saying Cameron "has now jumped on board another sinking ship full of holes, presumably in order to make a lot of money before the theory sinks into an early watery grave. Man the lifeboats and get out now."

    In 2003, Witherington and co-author Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, wrote in The Brother of Jesus that they believed an ossuary bearing the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," was authentic.

    A few months after The Brother of Jesus was published, Israel's Antiquities Authority decided that the ossuary was a fake. It charged the ossuary's owner, Oded Golan, with fraud and illegally selling archaeological artifacts outside of Israel. His trial continues, 21/2 years after it began.

    Witherington said that he and Shanks stand by their conclusion that the ossuary is authentic and are not likely to change their minds, regardless of the trial's outcome.

    ---
    * "This is probably going to be the biggest New Testament find in my lifetime, as big as the Dead Sea scrolls," said Ben Witherington, a New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

    National Geographic News
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1021_021021_christianrelicbox.html

    If Witherington can be such a zealot about HIS OWN wacky claims about HIS OWN phony ossuary, it would only be sporting of him to cut Simcha Jacobovici (Witherington’s former partner in crime. He was the man who helped Witherington hype his own phony “James Ossuary” about 4 years ago.) and James Cameron some slack.

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  2. Ralph6:35 PM

    Now there's something I didn't know. Hmm...

    However, I won't be cutting Mr. Cameron any slack in the sense of believing him or his film. That Dr. Witherington made a mistake once before does not lend any credibility to Mr. Cameron's film.

    Perhaps we'll hear more from Dr. W. at his blog.

    And thanks for your comment.

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