New York – Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded.
“The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air Sunday on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets, or ossuaries, discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family. One of the caskets bears the title “Judah, son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film.
“There’s a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself,” Cameron said Monday at a news conference.
Shimon Gibson, one of three archaeologists who first discovered the tomb in 1980, said Monday of the film’s claims: “I’m skeptical, but that’s the way I am. I’m willing to accept the possibility.”
The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film’s hypothesis holds little weight.
“I don’t think that Christians are going to buy into this,” Pfann said.
