This paper poses a simple question: Is there sufficient historical evidence to identify a modest first century CE Jewish rock-hewn tomb, accidentally opened by a construction crew in 1980 in east Talpiot, just south of the Old City of Jerusalem, as the probable burial tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and…
In the aftermath of Jodi Magness’s recent lecture on the “Burials of James, Jesus, and the Talpiot Tombs” in Bart Ehrman’s course “Archaeoolgy in the Time of Jesus” one thing was clear to me that I had not fully realized. Most treatments of the data on the Talpiot tomb research…
The story of Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross of Jesus as related in the gospel of Mark is quite remarkable for both its brevity and its content. It is conveyed in s single verse in Mark 15:21 as Jesus is being led away by the Romans to be crucified.…
Caution: This presentation is 1.5 hours and is for serious students of the historical Jesus–which I believe my Blog readers and subscribers are. In this age of TikTok, Shorts, YT videos that are never supposed to be longer than 12 minutes, it will find its rightful place. It is not…
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By using these particular links there is no increase in cost to you as the purchaser. Marie: De son enfance juive à la fondation du christianisme (Flammarion, 2020). (Kindle link). This is a translation of the forthcoming English version, The Lost Mary:…
The on-line magazine, Popular Archaeology, which I highly recommend, recently circulated its “Top Ten” feature stories of the past decade. I was honored and pleased that one of the ten stories that my research on the historical Jesus, as related to material and textual evidence, was chosen as one of…
This lecture focuses on Jesus and his “band of brothers,” whether members of his own family or apostles or both. Sorting it all out is quite a challenge. I had uploaded a private camera version of this lecture before but this one has the slides–they are not the best quality…
A major New Testament scholar recently commented to a colleague that “Tabor’s support of the idea that the Talpiot tombs might related to the historical Jesus is truly bizarre.” I won’t name the scholar but 99% of my readers would recognize the name. My reaction is someone needs to do…
There is a new scientific paper published just this week by a distinguished team of international geologists, chemists, and earth scientists, titled “The Geochemistry of Intrusive Sediment Sampled from the 1st Century CE Inscribed Ossuaries of James and the Talpiot Tomb,” that is now available on-line. Based on extensive soil…
In this photo is represented the past 30 years of my life, including 67 trips to Israel since 1990, tracking Jesus, with most of my work related to this panorama of the City…