BTW, I'm Jewish

By Steven Feldman

May 17, 2007

In most circumstances, my religion—or anyone else’s, for that matter—isn’t anyone’s business. I raise it now because I want to bring to the surface an issue that has been an undercurrent in discussions regarding the recent “Tomb of Jesus” controversy. Recently we posted on our Web site an article by Professor Craig Evans and me that argues that the recent Discovery Channel documentary claiming that the tomb of Jesus (and indeed some of his remains) had been found is, in the words of our article’s subtitle, “Wrong on Every Count” (read it here).

Soon after the article was posted, a friend wrote to say that he assumes that I consider the bones of Jesus to be findable, at least in theory. I answered that I do. His point was that some Christians objected to the television documentary because they believe Jesus ascended bodily to heaven and would not have left behind any remains for archaeologists to find. I’m Jewish, so I don’t believe that. I also believe you can be a perfectly fine Christian, not just morally but also theologically, if you don’t believe that.

My friend’s note reminded me of something I had heard in the wake of the James ossuary controversy. As Managing Editor of Biblical Archaeology Review in late 2002, I was closely involved in the publication of the article that announced the existence of a bone box inscribed “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus” and also in the firestorm that followed (the Israel Antiquities Authority soon declared the inscription, or at least a part of it, a modern forgery). BAR, under editor Hershel Shanks, has been the leading defender of the inscription’s authenticity. What I just recently recalled is that in the midst of the controversy, a writer who had just published an article on the ossuary in a national magazine told me that some people in Israel’s archaeology circles believed that Hershel and I were born-again Christians. Apparently they could not believe that we might be convinced of the inscription’s authenticity other than out of religious convictions (for the record, I’m not sure if the inscription is authentic or not, though I tend to believe it is—on most days, that is).

Anyone who knows either Hershel or me will find the idea of either of us being born-again Christians quite funny. I don’t mean any disrespect to Christians (born again or not)—but can you imagine Mel Brooks as a Christian? Or Woody Allen? Or, to find a non-nebbish example, Itzhak Perlman? Hershel and I are not as talented as Perlman (though he comes a lot closer than I do), and we’re not as funny as either Brooks or Allen, but we’re just as Jewish.

There are those who wish for the James ossuary to be authentic because they yearn for a palpable connection to the family of Jesus, and there are those who dismiss the “Jesus tomb” because they believe in Jesus’ bodily ascension to heaven. I’m not one of them. Both issues need to be decided on evidence, not faith.