Photo: The James Ossuary

Time Magazine online has a very informative article dealing with the trial of Oded Golan over the issue whether or not the James Ossuary is a forgery. The article presents arguments from both sides of the conflict. The article presents the argument of a group of scholars who affirm that the ossuary is a forgery. The article also presents the argument of other scholars who believe that the charge of forgery is baseless.

According to the article, the judge who will decide the case has a degree in archeology. However, the case is so complicated and the evidence so technical that the judge “has wondered aloud in court how he can determine the authenticity of the items if the professors cannot agree among themselves.”

It is a fascinating article that deserves to be read. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The world of biblical archaeology was stirred in 2002 by the unveiling of a limestone burial box with the Aramaic inscription Yaakov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua (“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”). Allegedly dating to an era contemporaneous with Christ, the names were a tantalizing collation of potentially great significance: James was indeed the name of a New Testament personage known as the brother of Jesus, both ostensibly the sons of Joseph the carpenter, husband of Mary. If its dates were genuine, the burial box — or ossuary — could well be circumstantial evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, a tenet supported only by gospels and scripture written, at the earliest, a generation after his crucifixion and, of course, by the faith of hundreds of millions through 2,000 years.

Experts, however, declared the ossuary a modern-day forgery. It was seized by Israeli police and its owner, Tel Aviv collector Oded Golan, was arrested and charged with counterfeiting the ossuary and dozens of other items. Golan and co-defendant Robert Deutsch were put on trial in the Jerusalem District Court in 2005. Deutsch is accused of forging other valuables, though not the ossuary. Both men deny all charges.

Their trial is still continuing. Many of the world’s top archaeological experts have testified as both prosecution and defense witnesses in proceedings that already run to more than 9,000 pages. And while the original charges against the ossuary appear to have been popularly accepted as conventional wisdom, they seem to be headed for trouble in the courtroom. Judge Aharon Farkash, who has a degree in archaeology, has wondered aloud in court how he can determine the authenticity of the items if the professors cannot agree among themselves.

Read the article in its entirety by visiting Time Magazine online.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, James Ossuary, Oded Golan