Name:kanderso •
Title: Ossuary discovered earlier than 1980? •
Date posted: 03/13/07 4:56
Q: I have a copy of "Dictionary of the Bible" by John L. McKenzie. The copywrighte date is 1965 and as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a 2nd edition date or reprint date.
On page 110, under the heading, "Burial" it states, "An ossuary of NT times was found with the name "Jesus son of Joseph"; at first it caused some excitement, but the name was one of the most common combinations of the period."
My understanding from the film was that the ossuary in question with this inscription was first discovered in 1980. This dictionary has a copywright date of 1965. Is it possible that the film and the dictionary are referring to two different ossuaries? Or was the ossuary in the film actually discovered earlier than 1980? Any assistance anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Name:lightwoman •
Date: 03/13/07 7:56
A: There was a different "James son of Joseph" ossuary discovered back in 1926. Because the names were common, again, no research was done to try to connect any dots. In 1996, the BBC crew - insightful journalists! - looked at the IAA's records to see if there were other Jesus-related family names listed for the tomb that one came from, and, serendipitously, that's how they discovered the Talpiot tomb - by the unusual cluster of familiar names!!! They said reading off the names was like having all the winning numbers come up in the lottery, LOL! The 1926 james ossuary had no other Jesus-family names connected to it, BTW. Which, if the James ossuary in question, is the missing 10th ossuary that can be linked with high probability to the Talpiot tomb, is why the two finds together are so very significant!!
You can read more about this in James Tabor's introduction (titled "A Tale of Two Tombs") to his book, "The Jesus Dynasty," here:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/B-ooks/story?id=1746724&page=1
Tabor,- who has been involved with the Talpiot tomb findings for three years, is in direct contact with other experts who have been researching the tomb, has corrected many misunderstandings, plus he offers a lot of worthwhile, balanced, informed views regarding the Talpiot tomb on his daily blog. Do check it out:
jesusdynasty.com/blog
