Experts: Claims about tomb of Jesus are as empty as His actual sepulchure

Jerusalem (CNS) -- Catholic biblical scholars and an Israeli archaeologist have rejected the claims of filmmakers that a tomb uncovered 27 years ago in Jerusalem is the burial site of Jesus and His family.

Father Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, a biblical archaeologist and expert in the New Testament at the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, said the film "is a commercial ploy that all the media is playing into."

Amos Kloner, a professor of archaeology at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, called the claim "nonsense. In their movie, they are billing it as 'never-before-reported information.' But it is not new. I published all the details in 1996, and I didn't say it was the tomb of Jesus' family. It is very unserious work."

Claims

Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and Oscar-winning director James Cameron announced at a press conference in New York City this week that ossuaries found in the cave in 1980 are those of Jesus, His brothers, Mary, another Mary whom they believe is Mary Magdalene, and "Judah, son of Jesus."

Ossuaries are burial boxes used in biblical times to contain the bones of the dead.

A documentary film by Jacobovici and Cameron will be aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4. A book on the topic, written by Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, is on sale now.

'Common names'

Father Murphy-O'Connor said the names found on the ossuaries "are a combination of very common names. Fifty percent of all Jewish women in the first century were called either Mary or Salome. It doesn't mean much at all."

The filmmakers said the ossuaries were not identified as belonging to Jesus' family when they were first discovered because the archaeologists at the time did not have the scientific tools that now exist.

But DNA tests could "only prove that [the bones] are human," Father Murphy-O'Connor noted, not that they had any familial connection to Jesus.

Wrong place

Kloner noted that Jesus' family was from Galilee and had no ties to Jerusalem, casting serious doubt that they would have had a burial cave in Jerusalem.

He said the tomb belonged to a middle- or upper-middle-class Jewish family during the first century and was used for 70-100 years.

Father Thomas Rosica, a biblical scholar from Canada, said, "One would think that we learned some powerful lessons from the media hype surrounding [another] ossuary several years ago," when an inscription claiming it contained the bones of "Jesus' brother" was proved to be a forgery.

Father Rosica added, "Why did the so-called archaeologists of this latest scoop wait 27 years before doing anything about the discovery? James Cameron is far better off making movies about the Titanic rather than dabbling in areas of religious history of which he knows nothing."

(3/1/07) [[In-content Ad]]