Simcha Jacobovici

I must admit two things: (1) I own the previous book in this series about the "Jesus tomb," but I have not read it; and (2) I ran out purchased this book after watching the Discovery Channel documentary based on it. Fortunately, I know more than the average person about the "Jesus tomb" and the authors provide an excellent overview of that find, so it is unnecessary to have read the first book before reading this book. That said, I read this book in four days because it was quite show more interesting. It was written for a wide audience, not the specialist, but it is well cited and scholarly. The crux of the book's argument is that a tomb near the "Jesus tomb" might be that of Joseph of Arimathea. Inside, on some of the ossuaries, are symbols that the authors describe as decidedly Christian. This would be a great discovery, as it would show Jewish Christian symbols before the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in AD 70. The most interesting chapter is the third, where the authors claim they have found the symbol etched onto an ossuary of the great fish spitting Jonah out onto the land. on another ossuary is a Greek inscription of four lines, stating, "Divine / YHVH / lift up / lift up," which may evince a belief in the resurrection. This would indeed be a great find, even if they use it to bolster their silly theory that the bones of Jesus lie a few yards away in another tomb. (Jesus was bodily resurrected, see Luke 24, John 20, and Matthew 28.) For this possible sign of Jonah, the book is quite an interesting read (though I wish I would've waited a few months and paid less than full price for it). Still, already, online, people have already pointed out that the "Jonah sign" is probably just a crude etching of a vase, and if it is not Jonah, the Greek inscription referencing a resurrection might not be Christian at all. And thus the whole theory falls like a house of cards. Still, it's interesting and well worth it if you can get it cheap. show less

A compelling look at the archeological evidence surrounding the historical Jesus and a fascinating discussion of the religion in the context of first century Jerusalem. It gets a little dry at times but not without purpose, and other times it's like reading a mystery novel.

In 1980, a discovery was made under the rubble of a construction site in Jerusalem--a tomb containing the ossuaries of Yeshua, Mary, Mary and Joseph, as well as "Judah, son of Yeshua"....Could this be the tomb of Jesus and Mary Magdaline? and if so they must have been married and had a son.....This should be the story of the century (if proven to be true). It's the writing style and faulty scholarship that really ruined this book for me. The authors were overly-dramatic and dazzled by their show more subject matter when archaeology is something to be taken seriously and it would have been enough if they could have stood behind their science and let the story sparkle on its own. Even though they did do DNA testing, science demands MORE testing. They have shown that their hypothesis is POSSIBLE but they didn't prove it. show less

The Jesus Family Tomb reads well, as one would expect from a host of a History Channel show. However, just as one would expect from the host of History Channel show, the book is short on analysis, fact, or believability. Some claims made in the book are outright lies, others distortions, and, not surprisingly, some are true. It is by the careful weaving of these claims that the authors keep from making themselves sound absurd. The worst part of the book is the statistical "analysis" of the show more names on the tomb. Unfortunately for the authors, this is also one of the main pieces of evidence for their claims.

Have the authors even made a prima facia case that this is the tomb of Jesus and his family? No. Is this the tomb of Jesus? Who knows. Does it matter? Not to anyone with even a tenuous grip on rationality. show less