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The Resurrection Tomb Mystery on TV

If you want to capture the hearts and minds of the people, you won’t do it through blogs but through TV specials. Whether or not the movie producers really want to convince people to “believe” or just buy the DVD and book is not clear to me, but the The Resurrection Tomb Mystery (aka The Jesus Discovery) puts forth claims that very few scholars have found convincing.

Some of the latest discussion is reviewed by James McGrath, and Mark Goodacre provides a simple summary of the claim.

The claim at the heart of the new documentary is that this tomb belonged to some of Jesus’ disciples, his earliest followers, probably Joseph of Arimathea himself, the man who buried Jesus. The basis for the claim is twofold: (1) One of the ossuaries is said to feature a picture of a fish, pointing downwards, that is spitting out a stick man. They interpret this as depicting the Hebrew Bible’s story of Jonah and the fish, and they suggest that this is being used as a symbol of early Christian resurrection. (2) Another of the ossuaries features an inscription that they interpret as referring to resurrection.

Goodacre is unconvinced, saying that “the case that this tomb belonged to Jesus’ disciples is very weak.” He then provides his top ten problems with the proposed interpretation.

1. Weak circumstantial evidence alone.

2. Handles on a fish?

3. Layered patterns of geometric shapes.

4. The Composite Computer-Generated Image.

5. The original excavators did not see a fish.

6. Fish in the margins.

7. The handled half-fish.

8. The Inscription Does Not Clearly Refer to Resurrection.

9. The Tomb Does Not Clearly Date to the time of Jesus.

10. Witnessing to Resurrection Does Not Make the Tomb Christian.
Goodacre’s blog explains each point. James Tabor has responded here. The spiritual “mission” of the program is to convince viewers that Jesus rose spiritually but not bodily from the grave. Though the producers obscure this by claiming to have discovered an early “high Christology,” their view constitutes a direct attack on historic Christianity as taught by the apostles until today.

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead (1 Cor 15:14-15).

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem

Dead Sea Scroll Fragment in Fort Worth

A local CBS station has more on the new Leviticus fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls going on display this summer in Fort Worth.

The fragment is 14.5 centimeters long and 8 centimeters high. It was put on display for CBS 11 in the MacGorman Chapel. Seminary President, Dr. Paige Patterson, is thankful to have it.
[…]
The scrap is called Paleo Leviticus. Paleo means old and Leviticus is the name of the third book in the old testament.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered in 1947. A shepherd looking for a goat threw a rock into a cave in Qumran and heard something shatter.
[…]
One of the scriptures in the fragment is Leviticus 22:21. It tells how a special offering needs to be without defect or blemish which is symbolic of the Messiah.
Steven Ortiz, a Biblical Archeology Professor at the seminary said, “What we do in archeology is actually put the flesh and blood on the actual stories.”
Ortiz is currently involved in two important digs in Israel and Cyprus.
He said, “I think a lot of times, people sitting in pews hear these stories and think of them like Aesops Fables and what we do in archeology is actually put the flesh and blood on the actual stories.”

That recalls a statement by William F. Albright: “Writing without artifacts is like flesh without a skeleton, and artifacts without writing are a skeleton without flesh.”

The story includes a video with images of the fragment. More information about the exhibit can be found here.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Tagged Dead Sea

Wednesday Roundup

The first two volumes of Harley and Woodward’s History of Cartography can now be downloaded for free from the University of Chicago Press (a value of more than $1,000). The links to the volume contents and chapter pdfs are on the left sidebar.

I always tell my class that Ramah, Samuel’s hometown, sits at the crossroads. Though it is known today as A-Ram, the geographical dynamic has not changed.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has unveiled its latest acquisition of a Dead Sea Scroll, a fragment from Leviticus.

In Jerusalem and throughout Israel this is Passover/Holy Week/Spring Break:

Nearly half of a million people visited Israel’s parks and nature reserves on Sunday.
Western Christians celebrated Easter in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Large crowds are visiting ancient Aphek/Antipatris but may be unaware of its significance.
The Holy Fire ceremony is on Saturday.

Those posing as Roman soldiers outside of the Colosseum have been thrown to the lions.

Wayne Stiles reveals what Jaffa’s greatest export is.

Two items of particular interest at Christianbook.com this week:

NIV Archaeological Study Bible, Bonded Leather Red 1984, from $85 down to $30.
The Holy Land for $.99.

HT: Bill Soper, A.D. Riddle

Tagged Israel's Coast, Italy, Jerusalem, Resources

Cave for Demeter Worship Identified in Judean Hills

From Haaretz:

We often hear about how Jerusalem is holy to followers of the three major monotheistic religions. But what is less well-known is that the surrounding Judean hills were home to pagan ritual sites involving Greco-Roman gods. One such site, linked to the harvest goddess Demeter, has been identified at the Twins Cave, according to a study released by the Yad Ben-Zvi historical research institute last week. In Greek mythology, Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped by Hades, king of the underworld. After Zeus intervened, Hades agreed to send Persephone back aboveground – but first he convinced her to taste the seeds of the pomegranate, an underworld fruit. Once she tried them, she could not remain completely cut off from Hades’ realm, to which she had to return for three months every year. And how do you reach the underworld? In Greco-Roman thought, dark, deep pits or caves were considered gateways to hell and were often used for rituals dedicated to pagan gods, say Boaz Zissu, who teaches classical archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, and Eitan Klein, one of Zissu’s graduate students. Zissu and Klein said in the study that the Twins Cave was used for just such pagan rituals between the second and fourth century C.E. The 42 clay lamps from the late Roman period discovered in the cave were used as part of a pagan rite, apparently meant to guide Demeter’s way as she searched underground for her daughter, they said.

The full story is here. For directions to the cave located east of Beth Shemesh, see here.

Tagged Discoveries, Judah

Eisenbrauns 30/30/300 Sale

To judge from the titles listed at the Eisenbrauns April sale, one might think they were partly influenced by recent recommendations on this blog. Among the nearly 100 titles for which you can get 30% now and later, these books are of particular interest:

The Horsemen of Israel: Horses and Chariotry in Monarchic Israel (mentioned here last month)

The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin (mentioned here in December)

Unearthing Jerusalem: 150 Years of Archaeological Research in the Holy City (mentioned here in
December)

There are many other books that we haven’t mentioned but that are of great interest. (There are also a few we wish had never been published!) Here are three not yet mentioned here:

Cities through the Looking Glass: Essays on the History and Archaeology of Biblical Urbanism

Confronting the Past: Archaeological and Historical Essays on Ancient
Israel in Honor of William G. Dever

Critical Issues in Early Israelite History

The full list is here.

By a 30% discount “now and later,” we’re referring to the immediate 30% discount plus the 30% credit that one gets towards future purchases.

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup

The theme of the month at the ASOR Blog is “Fakes, Looting, and Artifacts Lacking Context” and the first few posts are up:

Buyer Beware: Shopping for Artifacts in the Holy Land, by Morag M. Kersel
The Secondary Context Workshop: A Report

At Christianity Today, Gordon Govier reviews the recent Easter archaeology stories of the Talpiot Tomb and the James Ossuary verdict.

Joe Yudin provides a history of the temple as preparation for Passover.

Ferrell Jenkins remembers the Passion Week of Jesus with posts on the Via Dolorosa and Reclining in the Upper Room.

Lois Tverberg offers a free download of “A Taste of Passover” through the end of the month.

If you didn’t sacrifice an animal at the temple yesterday, even though such is commanded for Passover, it is very difficult to understand the price that must be paid for your redemption. The Sacrifice video ($10) by SourceFlix will help.

Sacrifice of lambs at Samaritan Passover

Tagged Forgery, Jerusalem, Weekend Roundup