There is a most interesting and helpful article on the Talpiot “Jesus” tomb titled “Talpiot Dethroned” by Kevin Kilty and Mark Elliot on the Web site The Bible and Interpretation. Kilty and Elliot have previously  published two papers on the subject of the statistical probabilities of the names-cluster found in the tomb, “Probability, Statistics, and the Talpiot Tomb,” and  “Inside the Numbers of the Talpiot Tomb,” which can be downloaded as a PDF files here and here respectively. This latest article focuses on some of the more recent academic discussion of the “statistics” related to the Talpiot tomb names and attempts to point our some of the fundamental errors in getting the facts straight that appear to be quite common on a number of fronts, including a fairly extensive treatment of Dallas Theological Seminary professors Darrell Bock and Daniel Wallace in their 2007 book, DeThroning Jesus.

One new feature at the Web site The Bible and Interpretation is that “Comments” are open on the various articles and posts. There is a most interesting exchange regarding this present article between Kilty/Elliot and Randy Ingermanson, who has also published work on the statistics related to the Jesus tomb. Ingermanson is a rare breath of fresh air in the discussion, despite my own disagreement with his conclusions, in that he has shown himself to be as open-minded as he is honorable in the way he goes about dealing with this quite controversial topic.

In case you missed it, if you are interested in why all the statisticians seem to disagree on their conclusions when it comes to the Talpiot “Jesus” tomb the article by Jerry Lutgen, “The Talpiot Tomb: What are the Odds” is also posted on The Bible and Interpretation.

Comments are closed.