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I was away in Israel on two separate trips in December, 2009 and want to catch up on quite a few news items, books, and notices that I have not had time to post. Some of this might be old news by now but I wanted to go ahead with a series of posts, for [...]

Back in October, 2002 when Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review revealed the existence of an ossuary that had once held the bones of “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” few in the media or the public knew what an ossuary was or that Jesus even had any brothers. A lot has happened [...]

One of the most fascinating names inscribed on the ossuaries in the Talpiot “Jesus Family” tomb is the unusual and rare form of the Greek inscription for a “Mary,” as first published by the learned L. Y. Rahmani in 1994:
MARIAMNENOU (HE) MARA: of Mariamene, who is (also called) Mara
[IAA 80.500, CJO 701: L. Y. Rahmani [...]

Having just returned from Jerusalem I have only now had opportunity to work through the various media reports and Blogs on the Internet regarding the results of the Princeton Symposium discussion of the Talpiot tomb. Here are a few reflections in an effort to shed some “light” on the “heat.”
1. There was no official [...]

Continued from the previous post…
THE TIME OF THE EXILE AND BEYOND
Beginning in the eighth century, and well down into the sixth century B.C.E., the nation of Israel suffered through political, social, and military catastrophes. First under the Assyrians, then successively under the Babylonians and Persians, large parts of the population were exiled and their land [...]

The first time the Talpiot “Jesus” tomb received any public attention was sixteen years after its excavation when a BBC produced documentary titled “The Body in Question” aired in the UK on Easter 1996. The London Sunday Times ran a feature story titled “The Tomb that Dare Not Speak Its Name,” based on that documentary. [...]

With the initial airing of the Discovery Channel documentary “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” in the U.S., Canada, and Israel, and the publication of the book, The Jesus Family Tomb by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pelligrino, the Talpiot “Jesus tomb” has generated an avalanche of media coverage and Internet discussion. A simple Google search for [...]

Last week I offered my own response to the April 11th story in the Jerusalem Post claiming that most of the scholars appearing in “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” Discovery TV special had now “backtracked” on their statements and positions as portrayed in the film. Here is an update on that story from the Post.
‘ [...]

For those interested in some of the chronological matters related to the discovery of the Talpiot tomb in 1980 it just so happens that the days of the week and days of the month coincide on the Jewish calendar for the year 1980 and this year 2007. That makes “today” the anniversary date of the [...]

There has been some discussion of to what degree the James ossuary might be described as “plain” or “decorated,” and as “inscribed” or “uninscribed.” The late Joseph Gath makes it clear in his final excavation report that when the ossuaries were removed and tagged in the field, during the first two days of the rescue [...]