On the in which James Tabor and Simcha’s book is released, the Huffington Post has decided to run a story featuring an excerpt:
Jesus was born, lived, and died in the land of Israel. Most scholars agree he was born around 5 BCE and died around 30 CE. We have abundant archaeological evidence from this period related to Galilee, where he began his preaching and healing campaigns, and Jerusalem, where he was crucified. There is evidence related to Herod Antipas, the high priest Caiaphas, and even Pontius Pilate, who had him crucified, but nothing that would connect us to Jesus himself, or even to his earliest followers — until now. Our hope is that these exciting new discoveries can become the catalyst for reconsidering other archaeological evidence that might well be related to the first Jewish-Christian believers.
This is, of course, as silly as the so-called Jesus Tomb, the nails of Ciaphas and other “artefacts” as found by Simcha as of late. It sort of revolves around this image:
And just as many did with the release of the so-called Jordan Codices by David Elkington, they are now responding to Simcha’s claims.
Dr. Cargill writes,
Fascinating how these stories all hit the wires the same day – Feb 28, 2012 –precisely the same day that Jacobovici’s new book gets released?? And, is it coincidence that said media marketing campaign gets kicked off during the Lenten season just before Easter?
This is nothing more than a coordinated press release to sell a book and promote a forthcoming documentary. There is no new discovery here; this has been known for years.
REMEMBER: don’t watch what Simcha says – you know he’s going to try and sell the public on his latest speculation. Rather, watch what the scholars say – or better yet, watch what the scholars don’t say, and you’ll have your answer.
Lombatti remarks on the image, which is a pattern found among other Jewish tombs (a la Elkington)
The image found by Jacobovici et al. is not unique at all. Similar representaions have been found on Jewish ossuaries (see Rahmani and Figueras). The one over here was taken randomly from Rahmani’s volume.
ASOR will publish their rebuttal next month. See. Meyers’ review of the book here.
And of course, the old babbling brook.
This is another way for people to make money…
And, I imagine that they will… in loads…
Watch for a History Channel special soon enough
Related articles
- Jesus Discovery: A Cave Used to Bury Disciples in Jerusalem (frstephensmuts.wordpress.com)
- More ‘Jesus Family Tomb’ Hype and Yet ‘Another Earth Shattering Discovery….’ (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
- A Presbyterian Who Doesn’t Like Tabor’s Work (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
- Why is Simcha Jacobovici Suing Joe Zias? (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
- Tabor Tries Again to Sell the ‘Jesus Family Tomb’ Tale… (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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