Freethought & Rationalism Archive

badger3k · 07-06-2011, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find That Reveals the Birth of Christianity (or via: amazon.co.uk)

Quote:

Tabor and Jacobovici have examined a sealed first-century tomb in Jerusalem, where they have found the earliest evidence for a belief in the resurrection of Jesus, based on what appears to be the oldest Christian iconography ever discovered. This major new find will be the subject of a primetime National Geographic Society television documentary. The discovery affirms a belief in the resurrection of Jesus that pre-dates the Gospels. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that whoever was buried in this tomb heard Jesus preach.

The stunning discovery also reopens the historical discussion of a nearby tomb previously identified by the authors as the family tomb of Jesus. That tomb contained ossuaries that may be those of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and members of the family of Jesus. Was Jesus married, and did he father a child who was buried in this tomb?

This title will be released on November 1, 2011.

Jim West files this under pseudoarcheaology

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A colleague tells me that two of the book’s chapters are devoted to Mary Magdalene and suggests that she was a boozer because they found high levels of lead in her dna (yes, remember, they found her bones buried next to Jesus…’). Lead was used in ancient times to stop the fermentation process. So, speculation piled on top of speculation. ... All this pimping of archaeology just casts the whole field in a bad light.

"Tabor and Jacobovici" - that's all that needs to be said. Once they come up, especially Jacobovici (the Jerry Springer of Archaeology), you know it's going to be cringe-worthy material. But I'm sure people will buy it, and some idiot will put it on tv (Cameron, anyone?). :constern02:

Toto · 02-14-2012, 01:29 PM

Publication has been delayed: This title will be released on February 28, 2012.

Here's an advance review: Latest claptrap about to soil bookstore shelves

Toto · 02-28-2012, 09:48 AM

Tom Verenna's roundup of biblioblogger comments

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Originally Posted by Eric Meyers

The book is truly much ado about nothing and is a sensationalist presentation of data that are familiar to anyone with knowledge of first-century Jerusalem. Nothing in the book “revolutionizes our understanding of Jesus or early Christianity” as the authors and publisher claim, and we may regard this book as yet another in a long list of presentations that misuse not only the Bible but also archaeology.

stephan huller · 02-28-2012, 09:56 AM

This Discovery Channel production actually bumped a project I was working on with the network. Take your pick of stupid show topics I guess.

Vorkosigan · 02-28-2012, 03:02 PM

He's in Huffington Post today....

Toto · 02-28-2012, 03:17 PM

Under news, not religion on Huff Po:

Birth of Christianity

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'Jesus Discovery:' Jerusalem Archeology Reveals Birth Of Christianity

...

Archaeologists who work on the history of ancient Judaism and early Christianity disagree over whether there is any reliable archaeological evidence directly related to Jesus or his early followers. Most are convinced that nothing of this sort has survived, not a single site, inscription, artifact, drawing, or text mentioning Jesus or his followers, or witnessing to the beliefs of the earliest Jewish Christians either in Jerusalem or in Galilee.

...

Duvduv · 02-28-2012, 04:08 PM

I don't understand this whole story. If someone found a coffin in Manhattan with the name of James or Henry or Stanley, would they have to suddenly decide it belonged to James Madison, Henry Harrison or Stanley Laurel out of thousands of possible people with that name?

DCHindley · 02-28-2012, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duvduv

I don't understand this whole story. If someone found a coffin in Manhattan with the name of James or Henry or Stanley, would they have to suddenly decide it belonged to James Madison, Henry Harrison or Stanley Laurel out of thousands of possible people with that name?

The difference is that the Talpiot ossuaries have names that fit the names of Jesus and his family as depicted in the NT, but per Christian teaching Jesus isn't supposed to be dead.

Therefore Christian believers want to believe they are "fakes" while disbelievers, who want Jesus dead like everyone else, want to believe they are "real."

In reality, in a large enough sample, they also happen to represent common names of the period.

Funny that the uproar is exactly the opposite of that for the James the brother of Jesus ossuary. Christians wanted that ossuary to be "real" as it lended credibility to Christian claims for historicity of a key figure in the NT. On the basis of this incredibily slight evidence (the clustering of the name Jacob and Jesus and the relative frequency of these names in surviving inscriptions) some managed to "prove statistically" that it "must" be James the brother of Jesus Christ!

When we have ossuaries, discovered in situ, inscribed with the names of numerous figures (wasn't it something like 5 or 6) mentioned in the NT, including Jesus, a clustering that increases the statistical probability of it being of "our" Jesus exponentially, they "prove nothing!"

Personally, I am with you ... whether or not the odds have gone from a billion to one to a million to one, that still isn't much of a peg to hang one's hat on.

DCH

la70119 · 02-28-2012, 09:12 PM

I was scrolling through the comments on the article in James McGrath's blog, and I found this one comment by a certain Brian interesting:

Quote:

I myself would be rather dissappointed if the James Ossuary turned out not only to be authentic but actual tomb of Jesus. I don't know about you James, but I think the Christian Message would loose [sic!] it's power if God didn't rise Christ from the dead. I mean how much of the story can you chip away before you decide following Christ isn't worth it anymore? The resurrection for me says several things. One of them being that God really is a nice guy afterall and that in the end the evil in this world won't have the final say. You can't turn that into a metaphor because it won't actually work if you do. But, I am a person of faith, and because of the faith [however uncertain I may be at time] I choose to believe that God really did raise Jesus.

This Brian is right.

An unresurrected historical Jesus DESTROYS Christianity.

stephan huller · 02-29-2012, 12:11 AM

Cargill seems to implying they photoshopped the image to make it more 'fish-like'

http://asorblog.org/?p=1672

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02-14-2012, 01:29 PM	#12
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	Publication has been delayed: This title will be released on February 28, 2012. Here's an advance review: Latest claptrap about to soil bookstore shelves

02-28-2012, 09:56 AM	#14
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	This Discovery Channel production actually bumped a project I was working on with the network. Take your pick of stupid show topics I guess.

02-28-2012, 03:02 PM	#15
Vorkosigan Contributor Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Barrayar Posts: 11,866	He's in Huffington Post today....

02-28-2012, 04:08 PM	#17
Duvduv Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: USA Posts: 4,095	I don't understand this whole story. If someone found a coffin in Manhattan with the name of James or Henry or Stanley, would they have to suddenly decide it belonged to James Madison, Henry Harrison or Stanley Laurel out of thousands of possible people with that name?

02-29-2012, 12:11 AM	#20
stephan huller Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: seattle, wa Posts: 9,337	Cargill seems to implying they photoshopped the image to make it more 'fish-like' http://asorblog.org/?p=1672

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