On The “Tomb of Jesus”

Doubtless many have seen reports on the discovery of a tomb in Jerusalem which the makers of a documentary suggest contains the remains of Jesus and his family.

Scholars have known of this tomb for over 10 years and there has never been so much as a hint of it being the “Family tomb of Jesus” until a book of that title (which is to appear in publication shortly), written by  persons without sufficient training in either archaeology or Biblical studies.

The chief archaeologist of the excavation of the Talpiot tomb has denounced the theory of the documentary’s makers as “nonsense” and that assessment is the assessment of the wider community of biblical scholars and archaeologists.

This “find” is a non- find and has simply been sensationalized and exaggerated for the purpose of selling books and television advertising space.

Rest assured, even if they discovered a tomb in Jerusalem with the name of Jesus inscribed on a box containing bones, there simply is no way, under any circumstances, to prove that those would be the “very bones of Jesus of Nazareth”.