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Director James Cameron (Alien, Titanic) has a knack for hyperbole (like his famous “I’m king of the world!” Oscar acceptance speech a few years back). But this may just take the cake: in a new documentary he is producing, he claims to have found Jesus’ tomb, and that of his wife, Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah. No, it’s not a mockumentary follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. According to the BBC:
Construction workers building an apartment complex in east Talpiot, Jerusalem, first uncovered 10 2,000-year-old ossuaries – or limestone coffins – in a tomb in March 1980. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, six of those coffins were marked with the names Mary; Matthew; Jesua son of Joseph; Mary; Jofa (Joseph, Jesus’ brother); and Judah son of Jesua. The documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, produced by Mr Cameron, claims tests on samples from two of the coffins show Jesus and Mary Magdalene were likely to have been buried in them and were a couple.
Of course, there are some archaeologists out there who have a problem with this — after all, the tomb was found more than 20 years ago, so this isn’t exactly breaking news. Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner said “I don’t accept the news that it was used by Jesus or his family,” adding that the names found on the coffins were very common 2,000 years ago. Debate is sure to rage for some time, and we here at the _floss will be following the developments with the same gusto that we enjoyed Raiders of the Lost Ark. In typical fashion, the hyperbolic director who started it all said “It doesn’t get any bigger than this!”
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hogwash – Jesus was never married
posted by Rebecka on 2-26-2007 at 2:29 pm
I can see it now. Jesus on the cross yelling “I’m the King of the Jews!”.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 2-26-2007 at 3:17 pm
how do you know? were you there?
posted by Toolz on 2-26-2007 at 3:18 pm
Wait a minute, I’ve always wondered this, but what kind of information can you get about a person by testing their bones? Especially bones that old? I heard you can figure out if their diet was good or not, what they looked like and what kind of injuries they had, maybe you can find out if there’s shared DNA (I don’t know) but how can bones link couples?
posted by Andie on 2-26-2007 at 3:20 pm
Andie,
They don’t really have to analyze his bones to see what he ate. I believe there is a picture of his “Last Supper”.
(goin’ ta hell for that one)
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 2-26-2007 at 3:38 pm
Rebecka,
Getting married and having children was par for the course in Jewish culture. It was so traditional, that anyone who hadn’t yet been married and had children was exempt from going to battle. Likewise, if a married man died without having children, it was his brother’s responsibility to produce children. Those children wouldn’t be considered the offspring of the living brother, but of the dead brother – that’s how important it was to them.
It wouldn’t be considered worth mentioning that someone was married or had children. If someone didn’t, that would be noteworthy.
posted by Hykler on 2-26-2007 at 6:31 pm
I see a slight problem here… weren’t these all fairly popular names back then? So essentially James Cameron has found the tomb of Mr. and Mrs. David Jones and their sons Matt and Bob. How exciting for the world.
posted by Sean on 2-27-2007 at 1:15 am
I don’t get how they know through DNA evidence that it was Jesus, where did they get the sample to compare it to? Or does James Cameron just know what Jesus DNA looked like?
posted by Jeremy on 2-27-2007 at 7:48 am
Well, it wasn’t until about a year ago that I found out Jesus had siblings (even though I went to CAtholic school). I don’t know if we want to depend on organized religion to gives us facts that shed light on the day to day life of Jesus or his family
posted by Jane on 2-27-2007 at 12:01 pm
The Christian religion, not to say that other religions are exempt, has been so contorted from its beginnings that most arguments dealing with the stories within get very laborious in a hurry.
Something I find surprising is that the Vatican actually retracted its statement that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute in the 60’s or 70’s I think, but very few modern Christian’s know it.
And it makes sense to me that if Jesus was a real person, and if he was a prophet, and if really lived in that era as a Jew… then he would have needed to be married. Why would the populace accept someone as an authority figure if they were abnormal? A Jewish man of Jesus’ age when he began preaching would have surely been married as custom. So, for that matter, why would he have to have been married to Mary Magdelene?
Just a few thoughts.
posted by Milica on 2-27-2007 at 12:56 pm
Married or no.. this is not the tomb of “jesus”– a greek name for Joshua, Jesus’s real name. And a popular one at that. Same as Joseph and Mary. There’s no conclusive way that this “DNA,” or mitochondrial evidence can prove that this was Christ’s tomb.
posted by s. on 2-28-2007 at 9:57 am
I HAVE HAD DOUBTS ABOUT WHAT I WAS TAUGHT AS A CHILD ABOUT JESUS. THE FIRST BIG “DOUBT” WAS WHEN I LEARNED THE ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE. WE WERE ALWAYS TAUGHT THAT THE 66 BOOKS OF THE BIBLE WHERE WRITTEN AS 66 BOOKS AND THATS IT. THEN I HEARD OF THE COUNCIL OF NICEA AND HOW THE THEN CATHOLIC CHURCH CHOOSE FROM OVER 1000 BOOKS WHICH WOULD BE THE BIBLE. AND ANOTHER DOUBT, WHY DOES THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WORSHIP MARY? AND WHY IS SHE STILL CALLED A VIRGIN WHEN THE BIBLE STATES JESUS HAD BROTHERS? THERES MORE DOUBT BUT ONLY SO MUCH SPACE, BY THE WAY I DO BELIEVE IN GOD.
posted by JOHN BROWN on 2-28-2007 at 10:59 am