Since the research from which Dan Brown’s fertile imagination took flight (Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Feb. 25, 2007 — New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world’s foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah.
Unfortunately, for those folks who struggled with the idea that Mary Magdalene’s womb was the Holy Grail — that she was buried somewhere in France after giving birth to the child of Jesus who fathered a line of blessed descendants — James Cameron’s documentary Lost Tomb of Christ will probably be unhelpful for different reasons.
Since I have nothing personally invested in whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene were (or were not) married and produced a child, and am perfectly willing to think that the Resurrection (assuming it occurred) could have been spiritual in nature rather than physical, I find the possibilities of whose remains might be in the tomb fascinating.
Clearly, though, others do not — and will not. 600 to 1 odds aren’t nearly long enough to overturn faith.
And frankly, they shouldn’t be. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be faith, would it?
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Update: There have been a number of articles forwarded that, together,give a pretty wide view of opinion and information — both religious… and not so much:
The Jerusalem Post – Jesus, Magdalene & Son in Talpiot Tomb
The Jerusalem Post – Analysis: Christian heresy of the Talpiot tomb?
YNet – ‘Jesus’ burial site discovery is just PR spin’
Time – The Middle East Blog – Jesus: Tales from the Crypt
This is London – Scorn poured on James Cameron’s ‘coffin of Christ’ theory