Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 08-23-2009, 12:31 PM

Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The James Ossuary Controversy and the Quest for Religious Relics (or via: amazon.co.uk)

A collection of essays.

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Product Description
In 2002 a burial box of skeletal remains purchased anonymously from the black market was identified as the ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus. Transformed by the media into a religious and historical relic overnight, the artifact made its way to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, where 100,000 people congregated to experience what had been prematurely and hyperbolically billed as the closest tactile connection to Jesus yet unearthed. Within a few months, however, the ossuary was revealed to be a forgery. Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus offers a critical evaluation of the popular and scholarly reception of the James Ossuary as it emerged from the dimness of the antiquities black market to become a Protestant relic in the media’s custody.

The volume brings together experts in Jewish archaeology, early Christianity, American religious history, and pilgrimage to explore the theory and practice couched in the debate about the object’s authenticity. Contributors explore the ways in which the varying popular and scholarly responses to the ossuary phenomenon inform the presumption of religious meaning; how religious categories are created, vetted, and used for various purposes; and whether the history of pious frauds in America can help to illuminate this international episode. Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus also contributes to discussions about the construction of religious studies as an academic discipline and the role of scholars as public interpreters of discoveries with religious significance.

Contributors:
Thomas S. Bremer, Rhodes College
Ryan Byrne, Menifee, California
Byron R. McCane, Wofford College
Bernadette McNary-Zak, Rhodes College
Milton Moreland, Rhodes College
Jonathan L. Reed, University of La Verne

dragoon · 08-23-2009, 08:00 PM

Quackwatch addresses some things to look out for when evaluating possible bogus claims.

I think item one fits this one and it's the first thing I thought of when I first heard of this particular ossuary.

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1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.

The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny of other scientists. Thus, scientists expect their colleagues to reveal new findings to them initially. An attempt to bypass peer review by taking a new result directly to the media, and thence to the public, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists.

mountainman · 08-23-2009, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The James Ossuary Controversy and the Quest for Religious Relics (or via: amazon.co.uk)

Quote:

Product Description

whether the history of pious frauds in America can help to illuminate this international episode.

I would have thought there existed skeptical enough people "in America" to question the history of pious frauds outside of America as well, and in an historical sense which leads us back to the primary evidence and the question as to whether christianity itself is not just a pious fraud. This on the basis that everyone - apart from the defence attorneys employed by apologists - agrees that we have not one scrap of evidence from the first century.

spamandham · 08-23-2009, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

I would have thought there existed skeptical enough people "in America" to question the history of pious frauds outside of America as well,

Well, there are. That's why American skeptics do not buy the idea that the Gospels were written by eye witnesses, or acts either, and are suspicious of the works of Paul as well.

Your thesis, that Constantine invented Christianity and had Eusebius invent a fake history for it, remains a possibility at this time, but it's simpler to posit a series of never ending pious frauds beginning in the 2nd century (with Christianity, but for all of recorded history for earlier religions) and continuing on until today.

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