Jesus Family Tomb In the News

Scholar Rejects Jesus Tomb Find
03/16/2007

An eminent scholar has rejected the claims made by Simcha Jacobovici and his team of experts that the tomb located in East Talpiot, Jerusalem is that of Jesus and his family, stating that one of the key pieces of evidence used by Jacobovici and his team is false.

Stephen Pfann, a textual scholar and paleographer at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, asserts that the ossuary believed to be that of Mary Magdalene is in fact not hers.

Pfann is basing his claims on his own analysis of the ossuary in question. He states that the inscription found on the ossuary does not read the name “Mariamene e Mara” (“Mary the master”), as purported by Jacobovici and his team.

Instead, Pfann states that the inscription is composed of two names: “Mariame”, which is recorded in a formal Greek script; and “kai Mara”, meaning “and Mara”, (a form of Martha) which was recorded using a distinct cursive script. Pfann states that this second name was added to the ossuary when the bones of another woman were added to the ossuary. Therefore, Pfann believes, the ossuary contains the bones of two women, neither of whom were Mary Magdalene.

"In view of the above, there is no longer any reason to be tempted to link this ossuary ... to Mary Magdalene or any other person in biblical, non-biblical or church tradition," Pfann concluded in a recently published article.
Source: CBS News

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