The Jesus Dynasty / James Tabor

I begin The Jesus Dynasty, with a purposely riveting Introduction titled “A Tale of two Tombs,” I discuss the possible provenance of the controversial ossuary (bone box) that surfaced in 2002 inscribed “James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” I remain convinced that the ossuary inscription is authentic and ancient, and that it most likely held the bones of James or Yaaqov, brother of Jesus, and leader of the early Nazarene movement following Jesus’ death. The owner of the James ossuary, Oded Golan, is being tried for forgery in Israel with the charge that he or someone he commissioned added the phrase “brother of Jesus” to an existing “James son of Joseph” ossuary to make it more valuable. He stoutly maintains his innocence and has recently produced a photo of the complete inscription that dates back to 1980 that has been certified as authentic by Kodak. There is other evidence supporting authenticity as well, but the pros and cons are nicely archived at the Biblical Archaeology Society Web site.

The question upon which I focus in that Introduction is whether we can determine which tomb this ossuary came from, and if so, what more can we learn if such a tomb turns out to be the “Jesus Family tomb.” I consider two sites, the Tomb of the Shroud, which Shimon Gibson and I examined in the summer of 2000, and the Talpiot tomb, uncovered in March, 1980 by a bulldozer clearing space for some apartments just south of Jerusalem. As it turns out, there is circumstantial evidence that might link the James ossuary to either tomb, so I discuss both.

I am pleased to report that ABCNews has put my Introduction, “A Tale of Two Tombs,” up on their Web site, so whether you have my book or not you can easily read it. It provides all the essential background on the Talpiot Tomb discovery as well as the Tomb of the Shroud, but purposely stops short in drawing any conclusions. As more evidence is developed the story will change and 2007 looks to be the year when some of these issues might be definitively resolved.

Two bits of news regarding The Jesus Dynasty:
In the UK following a prime-time special on Channel 4 that aired Christmas Eve titled “The Secret Family of Jesus,” the British edition of The Jesus Dynasty broke into the “Bestseller” ranking on the Amazon.uk Web site reaching number 16. A sample segment of the second half of the program is up on the Web on You Tube (titled “Jesus and the Rise of Christianity”).

The Jesus Dynasty in German (Die Jesus Dynastie) has climbed back on the bestseller list in Germany this opening week of 2007.

I am pleased to announce that the cover story in the current issue of Profil magazine, the national newsweekly of Austria, is titled “Die Familie Jesu.” It is a lavish ten-page discussion, with photos, that features my book and many of its main subjects, but with a particular emphasis on Mary as mother of a large Jewish family of seven children, and the implications thereof. If you read German you can follow the main features of the story in an on-line edition of the current issue, or better yet, you can pick up a copy of the magazine itself at any good international newstand. This influential magazine with a circulation of several hundred thousand surely promises to stir up some lively discusson among German readers regarding my book and its central topics as we enter the Christmas season.

I had planned to write short reports along the way this week while I have been in Europe but unfortunately I had problems with my laptop the third day of my visit here and have just now gotten it running again. It is good to be back on line. It is strange how our computer “worlds” have become so essential to us. I just downloaded about 600 e-mails that had built up over the week, many from readers of the new editions of my book in Dutch, German, and Portuguese. I am now in Vienna for three days after having visited Holland, Belgium, and Germany. So much has happened it will be impossible to relate it all, but here are a few random notes and observations from my trip as related to the reception of The Jesus Dynasty in Dutch and German.

• My first evening in Amsterdam I was able to watch live on cable from Germany the national TV show Aspekte that ran a feature story on my book. Aspekte, which runs every Friday night in Europe, is something like 20/20 or Dateline in the U.S. I had filmed in Charlotte and in Jerusalem with the producer, Frank Vorpahl, earlier this year and this was the second segment they had aired on my book. If you read German there is a summary on their Web site of the show and both programs are archived. Most interesting was the inclusion of reactions and critiques of my work with professors and students from the Catholic University at Eichstatt. As an indication of the power and influence of the media an hour or so after the broadcast the book had climbed into the top 100 ranking on Amazon.de, the German site, where it stayed most of the weekend.

• A definite highlight of this trip was the Belgium Book Fair in Antwerp, my first visit to that historic city. Unlike the world famous Frankfurt Book Fair, which is more for publishers and professionals in the book business, this fair is for the people. Only Dutch books are on display with authors who either write in Dutch or are published in Dutch in attendance. I was one of thirty authors featured. De Jezus Dynastie in Belgium is published by Manteau. Over 175 thousand people crowd into the event. It was quite amazing to see the energy and excitement evident all around. I think the Dutch, along with the Swedes and Israelis, buy more books per person than any country in the world. Authors are interviewed by professional journalists in public sessions. I had the good fortune to be assigned to Joel de Ceulaer, a writer for the weekly magazine Knack, which is something like Time or Newsweek in Belgium. The room was packed and the interview was conducted in English, a third language after French in northern Belgium. Mr. Ceulaer had carefully read my book and his questions were probing but fair and intelligent. The audience seemed quite rapt with attention and I had a chance to carry on conversations afterward. Belgium is a traditionally Catholic country but these nortern Dutch speaking citizens of Belgium are educated and enlightened, and apparently quite interested in my topic–the historical quest for Jesus. The interest in the press was extensive and I did a full day of one hour interviews with various papers. I also had time to squeeze in a visit to the world-famous Cathedral of our Lady, where three of Rubens’s most famous paintings are magnificantly displayed, including the “Assumption of Maria.” I stood a long time in front of it, awed by the obvious power of artistic expression in the service of religious imagination. In Antwerp one sees shrines to Mary on corners of buildings all over town. I could not help feeling the irony of my attempts to bring back to our historical memory an understanding of Jesus’ mother Miriam as a Jewish mother of seven children.

• In Germany and Austria The Jesus Dynasty continues to draw lots of attention and varied reactions, heralded by the extraordinary TV and press coverage. Whereever I have spoken I have emphasized the connection of my own approach to Jesus with the pioneering work of Albert Schweitzer, to whom I dedicated my book. There is an serious and thorough Blog review by Gerhard Beckmann at Die Welt website that picks up on this point. While in Munich I did a long and in depth interview with a correspondent with Die Zeit, which is arguably the most serious weekly newspaper in Germany. Here in Vienna I spent half a day with a feature writer Gerhard Hertenberger for the national magazine Profil, which is like Time in the US or Der Spiegel in Germany. Their plan is to run a nine-page cover story on Die Jesus Dynastie the first week of December. Mr. Hertenberger read me the formal responses to the book by two scholars, one Catholic, the other Protestant, that he had solicited to evaluate my book. I am honored and pleased at the serious consideration.

• Yesterday I visited the Roman ruins here in Vienna under the present street level. Here, at what is now the center of the city, was a full Roman military camp, the settlement known as Vindobona, the northern border of the Roman empire on the Danube for several centuries. The Romans under Augustus and Tiberius had finally managed to conquer the German tribes of the area. I could not help think about how Abdes Pantera had come with his cohort from Roman Syria-Palestine to Dalmatia (Croatia), not far from here, in 6 A.D. This was the height of the fighting on the German frontier. It is surley likely that during his 40 years of service he would have been at Vindobona at one time or another. He ended up in the north, on the Nahe river in Germany where he died and was buried. Among the ruins here at Vindobona were found several gravestones that reminded me of Pantera’s.

More later…

I am in Europe this week giving lectures and interviews in Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. I just arrived in Amsterdam a couple of hours ago. I have not been here since 1962 when I was in H.S. in France and I came here over Easter vacation with my roommate. Amsterdam is lovely, a city of parks, museums, and deep history. The Dutch version of my book came out this week, published by Spectrum Publishers and it seems to be attracting lots of attention. It is very satisfying to me to see the book come out in Dutch, given the rich history in this country for free thinking, scientific and cultural advancement, and Enlightenment thinking. The German version continues to do well and seems to be attracting major attention. Tonight a second segment airs on the German program Aspekte, which I filmed in Israel back in June. This program is something like 60 Minutes over here and it gets carried via cable all over Europe. In fact I will be able to watch it live here in the hotel room this evening. The Austrian magazine Profil, which is like Newsweek over here, is planning a nine page story on Die Jesus Dynastie. I will be meeting their writers while in Vienna. I will be writing further reports on my trip all through next week, so stay tuned. I also plan on continuing my reponses to Dr. Jame Strange’s review of my book in Biblical Archaeology Review.

I just received word this week that The Jesus Dynasty is on the non-fiction best-seller lists in both Germany and Italy--these are the editions I have mentioned before in those languages. I am beginning to get some very interesting responses, both informally from readers as well as more formal treatments in the Press. I will be highlighting some of the queries and issues that are coming out of these venues over the next few weeks. I am scheduled to fly to Europe the first week of November to give several public talks, lectures, and interviews about the book. The Dutch publisher is bringing me over, as that edition is scheduled for release the end of this month.

I also plan to post an extensive entry on the whole idea of “The Two Messiahs” based on some of the recent work I have done with one of my graduate students who chose this as a topic of research in an advanced seminar that Dr. Michael Stone of Hebrew University is conducting this semester at UNC Charlotte. Dr. Stone, distinguished professor from Hebrew University and expert in both ancient Judaism and ancient Armenian studies is spending a year here as a visiting professor. He has brought a wonderful presence here in Charlotte within the community and among our graduate students, as well as in the larger North Carolina region with its impressive concentration of Judaic Studies expertise. In the Spring Dr. Stone will be teaching an advanced course for both undergraduates and graduates.

La Dinastia di Gesu was released in Italy on September 30th. It is published by Piemme I have already begun to hear from Italian readers. It will surely be interestlng to follow the reaction in various Roman Catholic areas of Europe, but Italy in particular. I have the impression so far that there is a great openness to historical research on Jesus even in traditionally Catholic regions.

The German edition, Die Jesus Dynastie, is the subject of a five page article, just out today, in Focus, the national newsmagazine of Germany. Along with Der Spiegel and Stern, it is one of the three such magazines in Germany, something akin to Newsweek.

My thanks to Blogger Gertjan from the Netherlands for a refreshingly dispassionate review of my book with a nice academic and balanced tone. The book is out in Dutch and I will be traveling to Holland and Belgium in November, but I am not sure if Gertjan read it in English or in Dutch…I hope this kind of approach to the book will be typical of many Europeans who are less interested in Theological Tradition and Dogma and more interested in History as we can construct it…

He writes the following:
Dr. Singor –who is one of my teachers– advised us to read the book ‘The Jesus Dynasty’ by prof. dr. James D. Tabor. I bought it, read it and am incredibly impressed. The remaining part of this blogpost will be about this book.

The Jesus Dynasty by James D. Tabor.

First of all a negative, this book was published in the mediahype that surrounds Dan Brown’s ‘Davinci Code’ it yells the same silly screams on the cover like ‘Stunning New Evidence’ ‘The Story of Jesus: The Facts’ etc. Let’s blame the publisher for this since what you get is the thesis of Tabor, historian and archaeologist, who for over forty years has been part of archaeological teams in Israel and expert scientist in understanding the New Testament. What he does in ‘The Jesus Dynasty’ is to give us his scientific ideas on the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth. ‘Scientific’ means in this case – for all you ‘I-know-Christian-history-because-I read-Dan-Brown’ persons out there – theory based on the interpretation of facts compared to theory based on the interpretation of well, nothing. But to get it over with, and reduce the amount of Brown-bashing: Brown is a fantast, Tabor a scientist. Tabor creates a stunning picture of Jesus as a Jew who at first belonged to the messianic sect of his kinsman John the Baptist to grow out to become one of its leaders. Tabor works around the idea that Jewish religion was not waiting for one but for two messiahs – the priest and the king – who openly challenged the established authorities to bring the Kingdom of God on earth. References to the coming of the Son of Man are to be interpreted as the re-establishing of the people of Israel instead of directly linking to Jesus himself. Tabor continues to create a restive Palestine whose Israelite citizens are eager to see the coming of God in their days. Based on the prophecies of the Torah, and the interpretation of John the Baptist and Jesus all signs are pointing to the fulfilment and the end of the Age. I help you remember that we are still talking scientific theory here and not Brownite overinterpretation.

After the death of John the Baptist, Jesus and his family are continuing his work. Nobody can tell whether or not Jesus himself believed he would be rescued by God from the cross, it is very likely that he would have expected the apocalypse during the Passover festival. After his death his followers were lead by his brother James the Just. Up until the crucifixion Tabor reconstructs the messianic movement in its historic context. After Jesus’ death he tries to rebuild his true teachings through James. He basically works with the idea that Paul ‘hijacked’ the group’s messianic, apocalyptic, Jewish teachings. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth, he would be king but there was no need for armed rebellion, because God would come to free the oppressed and the righteous. Jesus saw himself as the teacher of a message. Paul made him, in order to be able to work among the Romans and convert non-Jews, into the message himself. Paul claimed Jesus to be the Son of Man and created the spiritual Kingdom of God in Heaven. In short Paul made Jesus God. Jesus never did and his brothers were appalled by these teachings. Through deduction and scientific textual analysis Tabor and others have managed to find parts of the New Testament, non-biblical gospels and texts that refer to the original ideas of Jesus and his family. Ideas that have been overgrown by Christian mysticism and theology which deified Jesus, his mother and disciples instead of realizing the value of their human ideas.

“Love God first, and your fellow human as yourself, and whatever you find hateful to yourself, do not do to another, but do others as you would have them do to you. This is the essence of the Torah and the prophets. Don’t think I came to destroy the Torah or the prophets; I came to fulfill. Whoever relaxes one of the least of the commandments will be considered “least” by those in the Kingdom of God. Be doers of the Torah and not hearers only, for faith without works is dead.”

Jesus was a Jew and never intended his teachings to become the foundation of a contending religion. Tabor ends his work with the notion that although controversial, his work is intended to build and not to tear down. He states that with new interest in the historic figure and ideas of Jesus of Nazareth the three world religions can actually grow towards each other. He quotes the Jewish philosopher Buber: “I do not believe in Jesus but I believe with him”. Tabor’s ideas make striking connections with the way the prophet Isa (Jesus) is depicted in the Qu’ran which clearly rejects all Pauline doctrine. Without ever degrading these doctrines Tabor managed to make his point in the ‘Jesus Dynasty’ brilliantly. As a bonus, he proves that history can be much more intriguing than any made-up story. He has written in a popular language so his work is easily accessible to any non-historians, non-theologians and non-whateverians. In short, I am going to lend this book to a lot of people!

Die Jesus Dynastie hits the bookstores all over Germany and Austria on Wednesday, October 4th, exactly six months to the day from its release in English. The publisher, Random House/Bertelsmann is expecting extraordinary interest in the book. This past Sunday, October 1st, the newspaper Welt am Sonntag ran a nice full page story on the book which was quite positive. This initial publicity pushed the book toward the top 200 range yesterday on Amazon in Germany. Today I did an interview with the current affairs magazine, Focus, which plans a four page full-color spread. The highly regarded TV program Aspekte, which ran a segment on Die Jesus Dynastie last July, will follow up with a second piece later this month. It will be quite interesting to follow the discussion of the book in Germany which has such an rich mix of “cultural” worlds, whether secular, Roman Catholic, or Protestant, not to mention the Bavarian Pope Benedict XVI. There is great intellectual ferment in Germany when it comes to theology and the history of Christianity. Books on early Christianity regularly appear there and often sell well. Rudolf Augstein, the late and long term editor of Der Spiegel, Germany’s preeminent news magazine, wrote a famous book called simply “J” which strongly emphasized a human portrait of Jesus. It became a runaway best-seller in Germany. The challenging works of censored Catholic Theologian Hans Kung, have become subjects of national discussion all over Europe but particularly in Germany. In terms of my own book, as one might expect, there is a special interest among the public in Germany regarding the Pantera story, since the tombstone of the Roman soldier that I discuss in my book is located in the museum in Bad Kreuznach. Stay tuned for more news. I will pass along things that come to me to all of you.

Spectrum Publishers in the Netherlands has announced that The Jesus Dynasty in Dutch will be released in early October. The publisher has invited me to come for interviews in both Holland and Belgium in early November. If you would like a peek at the cover it is featured on the home page of the publisher and at De Jezus Dynastie.

The Portuguese edition, A Dinastia de Jesus was released over the summer and is apparently causing some bit of stir. I have had just this past week inteviews with the two major newsmagazines in Portugal: Focus and Sabado.