I (SG) forward Prof. Tabor's reply, at his request: Dear Stephen and all (please post if appropriate on the lists),
Thanks so much for your correction here, mea culpa! As always you prove yourself a sharp eyed and perceptive reader. It is so hard to successfully proofread and fact check a book and we will surely correct this error in subsequent printings/editions. There have been a few other errors called to my attention as well. On the "Tale of Two Tombs," you are right, I am convinced that the James ossuary is "genuine," meaning the entire inscription, or maybe I should say, to be more accurate, I am not convinced by the arguments of the IAA that the phrase "brother of Jesus" was forged by Golan. I don't lay out all the pros and cons in the book as they have been so extensively discussed and are quite complex and technical, as you know, but there is additional evidence that will gradually come out that I think will support the authenticity case. As for the provenance and history of Oded's ossuary I am simply not sure, much depends on when he acquired it. In the book I discuss both tombs as possibilities and yes, you are right, if it is from one the argument for the other is surely undercut. I think this might be resolved if we could do mDNA on the bone material from the "James" ossuary, or at least if there is no maternal match in either tomb we could conclude the evidence one or the other is the source of the ossuary remains unresolved. What I really wanted to do in that chapter, as I indicate at the end, is not to say definitively that one or the other IS the tomb from which the James ossuary came as to pull readers into the context of late 2nd Temple burials of this type, perhaps similar to the way in which the Jesus family would have been buried--you know, forgotten in history as a family, but together in both life and death--somewhere, perhaps, in Jerusalem. These two tombs are fascinating for what they contain and serve to represent this central idea--and if one of them indeed does turn out to be the tomb from which the James ossuary came (whether genuine in whole or part), then all the more interesting for us to study the evidence in each and see what can be determined of this particular "James" and who he might have been. I of course realize that Jodi Magness and others have argued that the Jesus family was too poor for such burial but I am not convinced by that argument. Thanks again, respectfully, James D. Tabor Dr. James D. Tabor Chair, Dept. of Religious Studies UNC Charlotte Charlotte, NC 28223 704-687-2783 704-687-3002 _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
