[Vision2020] Jesus: Tales from the Crypt

[Chasuk]

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/2007/02/jesus_tales_from_the_crypt.html?iid=chix-digg

Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you 'The Titanic'
is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he's sinking is
Christianity.

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha
Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected
--the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was
discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary
Magdelene.

No, it's not a re-make of "The Da Vinci Codes'. It's supposed to be true.

Let's go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging
out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the
Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way,
revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists
were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It
took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They
were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of
Jesua.
Israel's prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn't associate
the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a
humble carpenter who couldn't afford a luxury crypt for his family.
And all were common Jewish names.

There was also this little inconvenience that a few miles away, in the
old city of Jerusalem, Christians for centuries had been worshipping
the empty tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Christ's
resurrection, after all, is the main foundation of the faith, proof
that a boy born to a carpenter's wife in a manger is the Son of God.

But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence
through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that
the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.

Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in
another movie,"King Kong", whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of
an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press
conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly
those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. News
about the film, which will be shown soon on Discovery Channel,
Britain's Channel 4, Canada's Vision, and Israel's Channel 8, has been
a hot blog topic in the Middle East (check out a personal favorite:
Israelity Bites) Here in the Holy Land, Biblical Archeology is a
dangerous profession. This 90-minute documentary is bound to outrage
Christians and stir up a titanic debate between believers and
skeptics. Stay tuned.

--Tim McGirk/Jerusalem