Faith

"Faith is not the knowledge of what the mystery of the universe is, but the conviction that there is a mystery, and that it is greater than us."

- Rabbi David Wolpe

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"Jesus Family Tomb" ID Refuted

I found an interesting article about the so-called "Jesus Family Tomb" and James Cameron's documentary about it over at the Jerusalem Post site. Apparently, in addition to the widely noted criticism of scholars and theological concerns voiced by Christian groups, some of the experts involved in the documentary are calling some of the claims in the film into question:

Several prominent scholars who were interviewed in a bitterly contested documentary that suggests that Jesus and his family members were buried in a nondescript ancient Jerusalem burial cave have now revised their conclusions, including the statistician who claimed that the odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the family burial cave of Jesus of Nazareth...
The dramatic clarifications, compiled by epigrapher Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem in a paper titled "Cracks in the Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support," come two months after the screening of The Lost Tomb of Christ that attracted widespread public interest, despite the concomitant scholarly ridicule.

...

Some of the scholars who were interviewed for and appeared in the film are questioning some of its basic claims.

The most startling change of opinion featured in the 16-page paper is that of University of Toronto statistician Professor Andrey Feuerverger, who stated those 600 to one odds in the film. Feuerverger now says that these referred to the probability of a cluster of such names appearing together... Israeli archeologists have said that the similarity of the names found inscribed on the ossuaries in the cave to the members of Jesus's family was coincidental, since many of those names were commonplace in the first century CE... Shimon Gibson, who was part of the team that excavated the tomb two and half decades ago and who appeared in the film, is quoted in Pfann's report as saying he doubted the site was the tomb of Jesus and his family.

...

In the film, renowned epigrapher Prof. Frank Moore Cross, professor emeritus of Hebrew and oriental languages at Harvard University, is seen reading one of the ossuaries and stating that he has "no real doubt" that it reads "Jesus son of Joseph." But according to Pfann, Cross said in an e-mail that he was skeptical about the film's claims, not because of a misreading of the ossuary, but because of the ubiquity of Biblical names in that period in Jerusalem.

"It has been reckoned that 25 percent of feminine names in this period were Maria/Miriam, etc. - that is, variants of 'Mary.' So the cited statistics are unpersuasive. You know the saying: lies, damned lies, and statistics," Cross is quoted as saying

...

Furthermore, Pfann also says that a specialist in ancient apocryphal text, Professor Francois Bovon, who is quoted in the film as saying the enigmatic ossuary inscription "Mariamne" is the same woman known as Mary Magdalene - one of the filmmakers' critical arguments - issued a disclaimer stating that he did not believe that "Mariamne" stood for Mary of Magdalene at all.

Read the full story HERE.

I can't say that I'm at all surprised by this turn of events. Just sad that the refutations likely won't get the same publicity as the misinformation spread by Cameron's documentary. But such is life, I suppose...

I Don't Believe

"I could not say I believe — I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God."

-- CG Jung

They Don't Make Pope's Like They Used To...

And yes, I know thats not necessarily a bad thing! But the current Pope is definitely not as hip as his predecessor.

From The Sunday Mail (via Expecting Rain):

Last week, the Pope disclosed in a new book that in 1997 he was opposed to Bob Dylan appearing at a youth event with the late Pope John Paul because he considered the pop star the wrong kind of "prophet".

At that concert in central Italy, Dylan sang Knockin' on Heaven's Door, his 1960s anti-war classic A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, and Forever Young.

I suppose the obvious cheap shot would be mentioning that Bob is Jewish and that Pope Benedict XVI is a former member of the Hitler Youth, but I'm not nearly petty enough to bring that up...

All That Education Hasn't Gone To Waste!

You know the Bible 98%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Via Erica

And a note to Jews: The question about the 10 commandments uses the Christian counting not the traditional Jewish one.

Akkadian Gift

A while back I blogged about a coffee mug Eisenbrauns was offering around the time of last Fall's AAR/SBL Annual Meeting. My Akkadian professor was kind enough to acquire enough of these mugs for my whole class! A very cool surprise (well, for an Akkadian nerd anyway!)The text is the first two lines of Enuma Eliš, the traditional Babylonian creation story.

e-nu-ma e-liš la na-bu-ú šá-ma-mu
šap-liš am-ma-tum šu-ma la zak-rat

"When on high no name was given to heaven,
nor below was the netherworld called by name..."

The smaller insription, which is just above "eisenbrauns.com" reads:

LÚ.DAM.GÀR kib-rat erbe-tim

"Merchants of the four corners [of the Earth]"

The--extremely esoteric--joke being that "of the four corners" was a common epithet of the Neo-Assyrian kings!

Watch Out! He's After Hanukkah Now!!

The "War" on Christmas

Y-Love over at JewSchool posts an interesting article about the supposed "War on Christmas" in America:

You Know It’s The “Holiday Season” When…

God is Now Taking Calls

"From the Hindu point of view each soul is divine. All religions are branches of one big tree. It doesn't matter what you call Him just as long as you call. Just as cinematic images appear to be real but are only combinations of light and shade, so is the universal variety a delusion. The planetary spheres, with their countless forms of life, are naught but figures in a cosmic motion picture. One's values are profoundly changed when he is finally convinced that creation is only a vast motion picture and that not in, but beyond, lies his own ultimate reality."

- George Harrison (emphasis mine)

UPDATE: Rereading the second half of this quote I am struck by some of the similarities between the Hindu outlook on the universe and that expressed by Jewish Kabbalists (Some of which I'm just becoming exposed to via an introductory course at the Seminary). Perhaps its just that all mystic systems have their similarities, as do all religions in general. Or perhaps they were both on to something. Something I'll have to ponder (as if I don't have enough already!)

Life Goes On...

George and Olivia Harrison, 2001

"In the end, 'Life goes on within you and without you.' I just have a belief that this is only one little bit, the physical world is one little bit of the universe. So in the end it doesn't really matter."

George Harrison

Our Own Inclination

"Everyone ought to worship God according to his own inclinations, and not to be constrained by force." - Flavius Josephus

Sir Elton v God

Sir Elton John has recently made some statements that firmly place him in the camp (members of which I encounter on a regular basis) that seems to believe that "religion" is to blame for pretty much everything wrong with the world today (I know, I should just be thankful he's not blaing the Jews directly...)

"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays... From my point of view I would ban religion completely... the reality is that organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate...

The world is near escalating to World War Three and where are the leaders of each religion? Why aren't they having a conclave? Why aren't they coming together?"

My first thought on this kind of mindset is that people, in general, are assholes. They often use religion as a justification for their actions. If religion was "banned," the assholes would just find something else to justify themselves with.

He, of course, also ignores the large number of religious people who campaign FOR gay rights and AGAINST war. But I guess just demonizing your perceived opponent as a monolithic whole is much more fun..

Second, I find it funny that someone who has had to deal with so much intolerance of his sexual orientation and lifestyle is so intolerant of other peoples' belief systems. Can you say "hypocrite," children? I knew you could!