The Jesus Dynasty / James Tabor

Two very welcome academic contributions to the Talpiot/Jesus family tomb discussion were published on the Society of Biblical Literature March Forum web site recently, one by Jodi Magness and a second by Christopher Rollston.

I wrote a response to Prof. Magness that has just gone on-line and it includes a few concluding comments in response to Prof. Rollston as well: “Two Burials of Jesus of Nazareth and the Talpiot Yeshua Tomb”

There is also a version of that paper at the Biblical Archaeology Society Web site.

I also put up a response to a letter that Prof. Jonathan Reed had posted on the Society of Biblical Literature Forum site. Some will recall that it was Dr. Reed who appeared on the Ted Koppel program and called the “Lost Tomb of Jesus Documentary” archaeo-porn. Reed is co-author with John Dominic Crossan of the book Excavating Jesus. It is interesting that Crossan, in contrast to Reed, previewed the Discovery TV documentary as one of the academic reviewers and gave it high marks. His comment was “”This discovery is potentially the last nail in the coffin of biblical iteralism.” Crossan appears in the film and comments that the location of Jesus’ physical body, in his view, has nothing to do with valid Christian faith.

Since so much of the Talpiot tomb story has been highlighted with media headlines such as: “Expert Delivers Fatal Flaw to Tomb Theory,” or “Cameron Titanic Sinks Before It Leaves Port,” this reasoned exchange among scholars is most welcome.