Metacentricities

People say they “know the truth” about Jesus and the press hypes it. Christians get up in arms because this “truth” goes against their belief. Actual real authorities in the field suggest that this “truth” isn’t supported by any real evidence.

The DaVinci Code? No. The DaVinci Code rewarmed. Recently, a documentary filmmaker takes the old news (ossuaries found in 1980 in Jerusalem) and decides that the idea that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and had a child, was, well, so compelling, that they’d twist the truth. There were ossuaries found, with the names of Jesus, Mary, and Judas son of Jesus. Sounds mighty convincing, except, well, it’s not. An archeologist weighed in:

She said Jesus came from a poor family that, like most Jews of the time, probably buried their dead in ordinary graves. “If Jesus’ family had been wealthy enough to afford a rock-cut tomb, it would have been in Nazareth, not Jerusalem,” she said.

Magness also said the names on the Talpiyot ossuaries indicate that the tomb belonged to a family from Judea, the area around Jerusalem, where people were known by their first name and father’s name. As Galileans, Jesus and his family members would have used their first name and home town, she said.

“This whole case [for the tomb of Jesus] is flawed from beginning to end,” she said.

What I find so fascinating about the whole thing is how much it seems to matter to people. Christians who believe in the literal biblical account feel that their faith is being attacked. A lot of people (honestly, me included) think that the idea that Jesus had an actual family life is kinda interesting and worth thinking about, and certainly doesn’t, in my mind, take one iota away from the impact of his words. Of course, in the end, it’s all about money - the money that the filmmaker and the Discovery channel can wrangle out of advertisers who think (rightly so) that people will watch the documentary, then go out and buy stuff.

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