Bruce Feiler on James Cameron's tomb musings

Bruce Feiler is the writer who traveled with Israeli archaeologist Avner Goren throughout Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, and Israel, following the trail of the biblical patriarchs and prophets in the "Walking the Bible" series of books.

I'm surprised to see him wade into this controversy, but pleased as well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-feiler/the-jesus-hoax_b_42195.html

The blogosphere on the James Cameron 'Jesus tomb' film

Updated:

Internetmonk dissects the claims:
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/a-messiah-buried-with-honor-responses-to-the-tomb-of-jesus-and-his-family-story

Alpha and Omega ministries roll their eyes:
http://www.aomin.org/index.php?itemid=1787

The Political Spectrum takes a more political tack:
http://politicalspectrum.blogspot.com/2007/02/news-flash-christianity-is-hoax.html

Revelations considers it an eschatological sign of the end times:
http://revelations.zenblogger.com/james-cameron-claims-to-have-found-jesus-tomb-and-corpse/

LAMLand wonders if it would be an existential question for believers - if it were true, could you remain a Christian?
http://lamland.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-does-it-mean-to-be-christian.html

Prisms suggests Jesus will go viral:
http://www.writingup.com/prisms/viral_jesus

Street Prophets thinks the ensuing discussion would help progressive Christianity:
http://www.streetprophets.com/storyonly/2007/2/24/233841/305

BigCityLib... well BigCityLib likes to use the verb 'plotz!':
http://bigcitylib.blogspot.com/2007/02/so-like-jesus-didnt-rise-up.html

Sensationalist claims about the "body of Jesus"

While I can't consider myself a neutral witness to this particular news story, it isn't my faith that is made nervous by it. Rather, it is the years of pop-religion tomes and badly researched conspiracy books that are going to come out of it that have me already irritated. :-)

Check this out: globeandmail.com: Has the DNA of Jesus Christ been found?

The case that these fairly common names of the place and time represent a  'holy family ossuary'  goes like this:

Another estimate, commissioned by Dr. James Tabor, chair of the department of religion studies at the University of North Carolina, puts the odds at one in 42 million. "If you took the entire population of Jerusalem at the time," says Dr. Taber, "and put it in a stadium, and asked everyone named Jesus to stand up, you'd have about 2,700 men. Then you'd ask only those with a father named Joseph and a mother named Mary to remain standing. And then those with a brother named Yose and a brother named James. Statistically, you end up with one person."

Since they don't actually know the family relationships of the people whose ossuaries were apparently found together, that should read more like this. "If you took the entire population of Jerusalem at the time and put it in a stadium, and asked everyone named Jesus to stand up, you'd have about 2,700 men. Then you'd ask only those with a father named Joseph and relatives or close associates named Mary and Yose to remain standing." My guess is that only about half of those men would have sat down.

The only DNA relationship established in this tomb is that the "Yeshua bar Yusef" and "Mariamne e mara" are not related. that's not exactly a compelling result.

The James ossuary, tantalizing as it was a few years ago, is probably without archaeological worth, since archaeologists say finds such as that are only valuable when they are still associated with their original site. (The James ossuary owner has in fact been charged with forging an antiquity.) And the fact that all of this has been tied together in a pop-film and not a scholarly paper adds to its suspiciousness.

What I think throws the thing completely is the total lack of ambiguity in the names themselves, reminiscent of the James ossuary forgery. The 'Mary' ossuary is inscribed in the Latin MARIA as if deliberately targeting modern Catholics. The 'Mary Magdalene' ossuary is written in Greek, and is 'Mariamne e mara' (Miriam the master), which directly plays to the specific theology of modern Da Vinci/Holy blood followers, as well as classical gnostics. And Matia (Matthew) is inscribed in Hebrew, the one disciple known in early Christianity for his Hebraic fluency. Its just all a bit too perfectly matched to the kinds of things archeologists would be interested in.

Jerusalem became a bazaar of relic trade artifacts when Helena became its patroness in Constantine's era. An entire industry arose trying to forge 'authentic' relics that would be venerated and adored, things such as the 'true cross' and various thorns from the crown, etc.

It should be noted, lastly, that Jesus' family were Galileans, and that all but a week of Jesus' ministry was conducted in Galilee, save for the periodic Passover pilgrimmage. If all of this had been found in Capernaum, Cana, or Nazareth, in the land of Galilee, then it might be time for Christians to get nervous about the implications. But concerning relics found in a city they weren't from, one famed for its relics trade, this film certainly represents nothing to worry about.

SciGuy: African chimps make weapons

A Houston Chronicle science blogger discusses the resent discovery that African chimps make weapons . In related news, Wonkette announces that Condoleeza Rice has demanded that the chimpanzees stop their spear ehnancing activities!

Disciplines for Lent

Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast." (Mark 2:19)

Giving up stuff for Lent isn't simply a way of flogging oneself with discomfort, or making oneself miserable. It is a way of responding to Psalm 46's injuntion, "Be still and know that I am God." Sometimes in the noisy din of food and pleasures we deafen the ears and blind the eyes of our spiritual selves. Lenten discipline is a way of taking those senses back, and listening for a different master. It is the comfort of the "food to eat that you do not know about." (John 4:32)

Yes, I did know it was Lent

But I've been so busy, that real posts have been hard to come by. For a long time - but I will try.

At the Ash Wednesday service this year, for the first time that I can remember, there was no music. I think the starkness that the lack of music brought helped me to focus on the liturgy and what our pastor said, actually. Sometimes a few simple quiet words are what you need to hear, and not the full production, so to speak.

He bought us all copies of the Magnificat's Lenten companion, and it has a few choice words that help to bring it all into focus. I will leave you with them.

"...sin itself isn't the biggest problem. Saint Augustine consoles us, 'Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon.' In other words, the biggest problem is how we respond to sin. No matter how dark the blackness of the blackmail of sin gets this Lent, let's use all of our energy to turn our whole being to the Light."

Fr. Peter John Cameron, the Magnificat Lenten Companion

My New Telecaster

During the course of last year, people kept getting me gift certificates for the music store. I actually appreciate this a good deal, because I can build them up and get useful things that I can't otherwise afford.

So on Saturday, just after arriving home, I played with the baby for a few moments. And then, not able to stand it anymore, I rushed to the music store. I had used my gift certificates, at my wife's urging, to put a black Fender Telecaster on layaway, and I was one payment away from finishing it off. Unfortunately, I still don't have it, because I immediately had to hand it over to be "set up" (basically a set-up is where they polish it, dress the frets, and set the height of the strings.)

But I did get to see it - and it is shiny, new, and black. It is gorgeous, and although it isn't the colour I originally wanted, it is mine - I looked around at the other Telecasters and their various colour schemes, and I didn't feel the same about them - they weren't my new Telecaster. :-)

It is a lot shinier than my other electric guitars, which are all from the seventies or mid-eighties. And you know what the crazy thing is? these days, most people buying a new guitar want to turn the shiny spanking-new instrument into what I have - the process is called "relicing." Basically, people will take a new guitar to a luthier (a guitar builder/refinisher) and have him beat the snot out of it until it looks like it was owned by a drunken rock star who dropped or banged it on stage every night for twenty years.

The process, specifically, involves making the pickups and scratch plates go from white to green or yellow (usually by soaking them in coffee and then sun-bleaching them), shoe-polishing the neck to make the finish look aged, and then smacking the finish off the body with keys, coat hangers, files, planers, or belt sanders (if you're in a hurry.) It is roughly the equivalent to taking a brand new Mahogany coffee table, and making it look like you've used it for outdoor patio furniture for the last twenty years, without ever using lemon-oil.

My older guitars - since I've taken care of them - have some of this look to them. The pickups are greenish, and on one of my guitars, the neck finish is yellow. But the bodies have only a few small marks and dents, and very little paint is missing. From a distance of more than three feet, you'd never notice. This is because I take care of them. I don't want them to look beaten up. I cringe when anything happens to them.

I have no intention of deliberately taking twenty years off the life of my new guitar. The other guitars have earned their battle-scars, and the right to have yellowing pickups. This one's just a baby - and that's the way I plan to treat her. :-)

A dumb thing to say

We left Ottawa on Friday a week ago, at a ridiculous seven or so in the morning. Now, for international flights that means being there at five. So perhaps this was the source of my verbal ineptness.

When countries do as much trade as Canada and the US do, they do certain things in unusual ways. One of those unusual ways is that at the Ottawa airport, you go through US customs (with uniformed customs agents and everything) right in Ottawa. By the time we got to US customs, we'd done the usual baggage screening, shoe removal, etc. that is the normal part of flying these days. So you'd think I'd be on my toes.

When we walked up to the custom's inspector, my dog-eared passport would not scan, because I'd basically warped the scannable piece beyond use (my passport is five years old, and I carry it everywhere.)

"You know your passport is a month from expiring?" He asked me.

"Yes, it has just been impossible to get one right now with how busy it has been," I said, referring to the new western hemisphere initiative requirement that everyone have passports.

So the inspector asked me questions manually that I guess he'd normally pull up on screen.

"Have you ever been denied entry into the United States?" He asked.

"Not that I know of," I replied, and immediately thought, idiot! What kind of an answer is that? Why couldn't you have just said, 'No sir'? You would know if you'd ever been denied entry! He must think you're a terrorist or a dimwit!

Anyway, he didn't think my answer as odd as I did, and we got off on our way.

Florida

In case anyone might have been wondering where I was - Florida! We were there for a week to visit my folks. Unfortunately, they had to miss the first three days we were there due to an unexpected family emergency.

But we still managed to have fun. We visited Wakulla Springs Lodge, Ed Ball's old nature preserve near Talahassee. We also went to Gulf World, while we were in Panama City Beach.

The pictures:

• the photo at top right is my daughter playing with a seal.
• Below that is one of the spectacular sunsets we had before my folks got back.
• And at bottom is my daughter taking a photo of the "Tarzan tree", a tree that Johnny Wussmeiler sat under in one of his Tarzan films, all shot at Wakulla Springs.

6,000 Year Old Taco

 Ah.... those pre-Columbian nights at the paleo-indian Taco-Bell....

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Humans Like It Hot: Spicy Peppers on the Menu for Thousands of Years -- By finally identifying a mystery starch on ancient kitchen tools, researchers prove humans have been eating hot peppers for at least 6,000 years

Trailer parks in space

I heard this on the radio this morning, thought it was a prank. One NASA astronaut allegedly pepper sprayed another astronaut over a guy astronaut.

I suspect that NASA may want to enhance their astronaut screening process.

Nazanin is free!

The Iranian girl sentenced to death for defending herself has been freed! Congratulations to Nazanin, and the other Nazanin who helped!

Tick tock people

Monday night after work, I headed over to a couple's place to help plan the music for their wedding (for which I am their cantor.)  Tuesday night after work, I headed halfway across the city to the planning meeting for a retreat for which I am singing. Last night after work, I headed to a school I've never been to for a band rehearsal. And work itself has been very intense this week.

I'm exhausted.

Yesterday night, when I got home, I lit a fire, and snoozed in front of the fireplace. It is the only comfort I can remember clearly at the moment. :-)