Bracer

All right, in the strict spirit and the letter of the law, sure, I officially acknowledge that at this point in time it's probably possible (sort of) in some vague, remote, yet legally binding sense that maybe the entire inscription is authentic. Certainly Oded should have the benefit of being innocent until proven guilty, beyond reasonable doubt (although since IANAL, I have no idea how this principle might hold up in an Israeli court -- no offense to anyone who might read this, I just simply don't know).

That having been said, can someone produce this photograph, that I might peruse it with my own lying eyes? A link would be nice...

Pavlov's Dog

Does the Bible say Jesus had a brother?

The Path of Needles

Yes, unless it's fake.

We already knew there were people named Jesus living at the time, but it's obviously not the Jesus from the NT since that Jesus was "magical" and so far as we know the "magic" Jesus performed is impossible therefore Jesus is impossible and will remain so until it is found how such miracles are possible.

Even if he was the guy the NT was based on, he isn't the guy in it since the book is almost certainly fiction. Even if Jesus' miracles are explained as illusionist tricks the Jesus from the NT still didn't exist since the NT claims his tricks as miracles and real.

There is probably someone alive today with the name Harry Potter, that doesn't mean he is the Harry Potter from the children's books (even if he had the same family structure as the books). Harry Potter never existed.

S.C.Carlson

Not having seen the photograph, I don't know but it is conceivable that the photograph is both from the 70s but also of another ossuary. It depends on how clear the photograph is. Hard to tell. I'm willing to suspect that if the photograph is clear on the point, it would have already been published by Hershel Shanks.

As for why did Zias say what he saw, the presumption is that he believes it to be true. The question again is whether he's mistaken (or lying, but that's premature).

As for whether someone else forged the earlier written part of the phrase, I suppose it's always possible (we can't really know since the original patina got scrubbed off in Golan's possible), but an inscription with "James the son of Joseph" would only have what, two of the most common names in Judea at the time?

Stephen

S.C.Carlson

Even if Golan deserves the presumption of innocence under Israeli law (I'm not an Israeli lawyer), the inscription does not. Moreover, Golan's guilt or innocence may turn on issues other than the genuineness of the inscription, for example, whether he knew it was a forgery, etc.

Stephen

Bracer

Good point. Also, having since read a few links from the other thread, it seems clear that if Golan's picture from 1976 is genuine, then it cannot be a picture of any ossuary from the "Jesus family tomb," since that tomb wasn't even discovered until 1980. It's impossible to have it both ways.

Still, I ask again, does anyone have a link to this picture?

Chris Weimer

It said he had a couple of brothers.

Chris Weimer

Even James son of Joseph brother of Jesus is still very, very common, though one would wonder why they added a brother to the inscription. I'm certainly no professional epigrapher, so deciding if it was written in one hand or two is out of my area.

Chris Weimer

It's not a picutre of the Talpiot tomb - it's a picture of the James Ossuary.

Pavlov's Dog

Hmmm. The Christians I know swear that Mary was always a virgin.