Monday, February 26, 2007

Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah.

The DNA findings, alongside statistical conclusions made about the artifacts — originally excavated in 1980 — open a potentially significant chapter in Biblical archaeological history.

A documentary presenting the evidence, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," will premiere on the Discovery Channel on March 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The documentary comes from executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici.

Discovery has set up a special Web site, www.discovery.com/tomb, to provide related in-depth information and to allow viewers to come to their own conclusions about the entire matter.


This is the first I've heard of it, so I'm just passing along the info sans comment.

UPDATE: Okay, one comment: An e-friend (Nick at TPW!) elsewhere pointed out -- which struck me as odd, too, but I didn't do anything about it -- this bit: Judah," whom they indicate may have been their son, could have been the "lad" described in the Gospel of John as sleeping in Jesus' lap at the Last Supper. I/we thought the relevant text makes it clear that this "lad" was a disciple, and generally thought to be John.

Another UPDATE: Some other observations here. Many, many questions.

And yet another UPDATE: A bit here and here and here . This apparently was known about in 1996. As the link directly above notes, they attempt to link this find with the James ossuary, which no one seems to have much faith in.