Some Academics Dare to Disagree:Let us consider some of the academics who are not considered in Simcha Jacobovici and DSC’s “all.”
Recall that in the section of this essay entitled Utterly Absolute Unquestionable Certainty I quoted Jacobovici’s website to the effect that “there is absolutely no academic dispute concerning the provenance of any of the inscriptions. Nor is there any question as to how they should be read.” And that DSC claimed that “All leading epigraphers agree about the inscriptions. All archaeologists confirm the nature of the find.”
Bar Ilan University’s Amos Kloner was,
“the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television. ‘They just want to get money for it’_Kloner also said the filmmakers’ assertions are false. ‘The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time.”1
Kloner also stated,
“It’s a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever.”2
“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.”3
“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. Pfann is even unsure that the name ‘Jesus’ on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it’s more likely the name ‘Hanun.’ Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.”4
“William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years. ‘The fact that it’s been ignored tells you something,’ said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. ‘It would be amusing if it didn’t mislead so many people.’”5
Ben Witherington is the author of “What Have they Done With Jesus?” and he was involved in DSC’s special on the James ossuary that was produced by Smicha Jacobovici about whom Witherington had the following to say
“He is a good film maker, and he knows a good sensational story when he sees one. This is such a story. Unfortunately it is a story full of holes, conjectures, and problems. It will make good TV and involves a bad critical reading of history. Basically this is old news with a new interpretation. We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. There are all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much.”6
Ben Witherington then enumerates various problems with the documentary’s various assertions (please see his website for these).