I wanted to write about something appropriate for the Holy Week, and I guess this inflammatory National Geographic special (directed by Simcha Jacobovici and produced by James Cameron) about the discovery of Jesus’ family tomb in Israel seems as good a topic as any.
Quick background: in 1980, a tomb was discovered by construction workers who were laying the foundation for an apartment complex in Talpiot, Israel. Inside the tomb were 10 ossuaries — small limestone boxes that contain the bones of the dead. 6 of them had epigraphs carved into their sides: “Maria”, “Mariamene”, “Jose”, “Judah”, “Matthew” and of course, “Jesus, Son of Joseph.” Interestingly, Judah’s ossuary also contained the additional nugget “Son of Jesus.”
Jacobovici’s documentary goes to great lengths to confirm its various theories, namely that the tomb discovered was that of Jesus of Nazareth, that he was married to Mary Magdalene and that Judah was the name of their son. As I watched the 2-hour special, I could almost hear the torches being lit and the pitchforks being brandished.
National Geographic itself is of course, riding the hype created by the controversy pretty well. (The fact that it chose to release the special a few weeks before Easter was particularly telling.) Scholars, critics and opinionated bloggers have come pouring out of the woodwork to decry the documentary’s various claims. The general secular consensus is that even if the theories put forth in the feature were true, it would not threaten Christianity’s core beliefs in any significant manner. (That to me sounded a little like desperation, but whatever.)
People that have read this blog for awhile know that I’m not a big believer in religion, and that I have a particular dislike for Roman Catholicism. I find it to be a manipulative, power-hungry, profit-driven machine, with little or no real relation to early Christianity other than the fact that it names Jesus as its central figure. That said, I do acknowledge that a change in collective mindset is a long and painful process. I’m hoping that widely-consumed works like The Lost Tomb, Holy Blood, Holy Grail and (God help me for saying this) the Da Vinci Code will open people’s eyes little by little.