Jesus Buried With Wife and Kid?

That's the idea at the center of a forthcoming documentary directed by James Cameron of Titanic fame.

CNN reports that,

"The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries -- small caskets used to store bones -- discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.

Archeologists and Biblical Scholars, for the most part, are scoffing at the film's sensationalistic claims. The CNN story continues,

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.
"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."
"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 -- 10 being completely possible -- it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."
Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun."
Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false.
"It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave," Kloner said. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time."

Those of us over forty have lived through several of these sensationalistic media blitzes, designed to provide their originators with fame, quick cash, or (usually) both. Since Cameron lacks for neither fame nor money (as far as I know), it is possible that his motives are pure, even if his theory is unlikely to win over many people.

Though this story of Jesus being buried with the wife and kid is likely not true (and lacks the probability of being proved true even if it is), it begs the question of, "What if?" What if Jesus did not die and later resurrect? What if he somehow managed to slink out of the limelight and settle in the suburbs with a wife (Mary Magdelene) and have a kid before dying of natural causes? What if the whole persecution and execution of Jesus never happened? Would this, as some claim, drive a stake into the heart of Christianity, causing the religion to disintegrate?

Christians are of two minds about this. In the book The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, liberal Biblical scholar Marcus Borg and conservative Biblical scholar N.T. Wright attempt to demonstrate that it is possible to bridge the gap between those (like Wright) who feel that the Bible is literally true and those (like Borg) who feel that while much that the Bible records did not literally happen, Christianity is still a viable religion. Wright and Borg are friends who have agreed to disagree and who feel that their individual faith journeys have been enriched by their ongoing dialogue. I've never met N.T. Wright but I did spend several days at a conference where Marcus Borg was a keynote speaker. At one point, Borg related a story about a joint interview he and Wright did. The interviewer posed the "what if" at the heart of Cameron's new documentary--what if the bones of Jesus were found, and were proved to be real by DNA testing, thus demonstrating that the resurrection didn't happen (or at least didn't happen exactly as described in the Bible, with Jesus ultimately ascending into heaven afterwards.) Borg was startled and even shocked to hear Wright say that under such circumstances he would find himself another line of work, because Borg's gut response was, essentially, so what? As I seem to recall (and I may be wrong about this part of the story), both men were surprised by the response of the other.

I can sympathize with both men, with Borg's feeling of, "How can you care about that?" and Wright's feeling, "How can you not care?" The fact is, the Christian Church is a big tent. It contains both of these varieties of Christians and many who are somewhere in-between these two extremes. For some of us, this is okay and maybe even a plus. Others would like to either find a way to bring the others to an experience of conversion to their point of view, or failing that, root out those who disagree with them. My denomination, the United Church of Christ, is famously "liberal." Each member of the church is bound by their own conscience, nothing more and nothing less. This is true when it comes to matters of faith, such as the truth and significance of the resurrection.

Though we Christians don't talk about it much, the church is always potentially one generation away from extinction. While the Christian faith is still is gaining converts worldwide, many have fallen away from the church, either switching to some other religion such as Islam, or becoming the kind of Agnostics who spend their Sunday mornings sleeping late and doing crossword puzzles. I doubt there is a "magic bullet" that can destroy Christianity, although infighting between Christian "liberals" and "conservatives" generates more heat than light. Ultimately, though, the real enemy of any religion is indifference.

Read about the UCC concept of Christian faith at http://www.ucc.org/faith/index.html

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