There are a lot of whacky stories about Jesus. Some are in the bible, some are made up by cults. Now, James "Titanic" Cameron has waded into the realm with a documentary claiming that they have indeed uncovered the tomb of Jesus Christ.A new Discovery Channel documentary THE LOST TOMB OF JESUS, from executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici, exclusively reveals what might be the greatest archaeological find in history. The film presents the latest evidence from world-renowned experts in Aramaic script, ancient DNA analysis, forensics, archaeology and statistics. Among the major discoveries chronicled in the program is new evidence that Jesus and Mary Magdalene, also known as "Mariamene e Mara," may have had a son named Judah.Now clearly, this flies in the face of one of the central notions of Christianity: that he died and rose from the dead and went to heaven. If a guy goes to heaven, he don't need no coffin, no?
THE LOST TOMB OF JESUS, which premieres Sunday, March 4, at 9 PM ET/PT, follows an investigative journey into the identities of and relationships among 10 ossuaries, which originally were discovered more than 25 years ago but never were connected conclusively. In conjunction with the film, HarperSanFrancisco is publishing a companion book, The Jesus Family Tomb, co-authored by Jacobovici and Dr. Charles Pellegrino, with a foreword by Cameron.
The Talpiot tomb originally held 10 ossuaries, nine of which are still within the Israel Antiquity Authority's domain. Six of the limestone bone boxes that served as First Century Jerusalem-area coffins include inscriptions of names found in the New Testament -- "Jesus son of Joseph," "Maria," "Mariamene e Mara," "Matthew," "Yose" and "Judah son of Jesus."
"This has been a three-year journey that seems more incredible than fiction," says Jacobovici. "The idea of possibly finding the tomb of Jesus and several members of his family, with compelling scientific evidence, is beyond anything I could have imagined."
"It doesn't get bigger than this," says Cameron. "We've done our homework; we've made the case; and now it's time for the debate to begin."
To check further, here's a link to Discover Channel's page.
Predicatbly, there's "outrage, ourage, I tell you!"
Archaeologists need to make a deal with filmmaker James Cameron. "You keep making blockbusters like Titanic and Terminator," they should tell him, "and leave the artifact analysis to us."Ah yes. James Cameron must be lying beecause he's a greedy little media slut but this guy who gets his soapbox from a Dallas paper isn't, right? Ah, didn't Jesus say something about throwing stones...? Gotta laugh. :)
That would honor the arenas of both science and faith, the two concepts savaged by Mr. Cameron's latest attempt at profit.
I have thoroughly enjoyed his past attempts at profit, and some of his money came from me. From the two giant movies mentioned above to the first Alien sequel to one of my all-time favorites, The Abyss, Mr. Cameron's name has usually been a guarantee of onscreen excellence.
Not any more.
This proud director has now joined the ranks of bottom-feeding junk pushers. The occasion is his Discovery Channel documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, set to air on that otherwise admirable network at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Barring a last-minute burst of good judgment, this detestable program will be consumed by an audience of some size, spurred by the desire to see if the man who showed us Leonardo DiCaprio proclaiming "I'm king of the world!" has now found the remains of the King of the Jews.
I'm sorry, do I sound skeptical? Then I have aimed too timidly. My goal is to sound colossally repulsed, for there is something in Mr. Cameron's low exploit to offend nearly everyone.
It will offend the faith of millions who have about had it with pop culture hacks casting doubt on millennia of Christian beliefs. This unenlightened orgy hit a peak with the recent bug-eyed devotion to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, an amateurish book turned into a medium-quality Ron Howard movie of the same name.
Mr. Brown wanted it both ways. He wanted to be treated with the respect afforded a genuine theologian, yet he could always shrug when the questions got too tough, falling back on the safety net of a work of fiction.
At least Mr. Howard never delivered pseudo-authentic lectures on Bible history; he just wanted to make a profitable Tom Hanks movie.
That he did, and its audience, combined with the millions who read the book, now contains countless people who believe that Jesus got married and had a daughter.
The scolding I wish to deliver brings with it a responsibility to a stratospheric level of objectivity. That said, I'll assert flat out that Jesus may well have been a family man. My faith tells me otherwise, but faith is belief based on factors other than empirical evidence.
But willingness to doubt is one thing. Willingness to make things up is another. Not satisfied to spit on religion, Mr. Cameron also zestfully offends the standards of science.
My gripe with the cult of faux studiousness that comprised The Da Vinci Code zealots was that they felt as though they were immersed in substantive, carefully vetted historical analysis rather than clumsy conspiracy ramblings based on the flimsiest of premises.
Mr. Cameron's Lost Tomb is an even emptier exercise. His assertion is that skeletal remains found in a Jerusalem suburb in 1980 simply must be the remains of Jesus' nuclear family: wife Mary Magdalene, son Judah – hey, the Virgin Mary herself might have been the contents of one of the chests unveiled with a flourish at a news conference to hawk the documentary.
You can feel the heat of the indignation from here. Well, here's the thing. Which is actually less likely? That some archaeologists uncovered the tomb of a guy who everyone agrees lived approximately 2000 years, a guy that Christian scholars have worked very hard to convince us existed? Or that the said man died on the cross, but rose from the dead and ascended to heaven?
I mean, the issue isn't even the name.
I mean, if you knew nothing and somebody said "they found Joe Blogs' tomb 2000 years later and we're sure it's his tomb through DNA analysis," and somebody else said, "Joe Blogs got killed but came back to life and then ascended to heaven..." in all honesty, just who's story are you going to believe?
Pardon me if I find this mightily amusing.
The director Jacobovici had this to say:
Jacobovici denied that his film is an attack on one of the basic tenets of Christianity, that Jesus rose from the dead.Sensible enough position, really. I can just imagine all the theologians going "No-o-o-o-o-o."
"I'm not a theologian. I'm not attacking anybody," Jacobovici told CBS' The Early Show. "I'm a reporter. I'm reporting a set of facts. … It's a fact the tomb was found. It's a fact that Jesus son of Joseph was buried in this tomb. There's two Marys, there's a Judah son of Jesus. These are facts. So what we're doing is reporting saying, hey world, pay attention, don't discuss theology. First, let's discuss the facts and then let's see the implications on theology."
Jacobovici and archaeologist Charles Pellegrino also are the authors of "The Jesus Family Tomb," newly published by HarperSan Francisco. Jacobovici said that a name on one of the ossuaries, Mariamene, is a major support to the argument that the tomb is that of Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts, Mariamene is a name of Mary Magdalene, he said.
My opinion? They shouldn' have been peddling lies about salvation for 2000years. The gig's up.
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