The James ossuary controversy continues

No consensus on the controversial ossuary this weekend at the Toronto convention of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Meanwhile Professor Rochelle Altman, who has concluded that the "brother of Jesus" portion of the inscription is a later addition, has reported aggressive cyber-harassment since publication of her analysis.

Unfortunately, this is not entirely surprising. Members of the scientific team studying the Shroud of Turin in the 1980s who concluded that it was medieval, not ancient, received anonymous death threats. Since this was before the results of the tests were released, it was obvious that other members of the team were responsible. Indeed, some had made their position abundantly clear by stating, "we are not testing the Shroud; the Shroud is testing us".
The Vatican, of course, took a far more balanced view. It will be interesting to see if the Holy See decides to take any position on the ossuary.

Posted by David on November 25, 2002 10:05 AM