Author Archive for: DrOakley

   To say that The Lost Tomb of Jesus is a biased work is to engage in a tremendous understatement. It is very easy to document the bias of this work, and its incredible level of inaccuracy when presenting historical subjects related to the Christian faith. It lives and breathes in the air of the “Gnostic Academy,” that popular area of

   I must confess, I am concerned. Over the past few days as I have been writing, gathering primary resources, and in general immersed in this project, I have taken the time to listen to the responses being offered by others. I am desirous of learning as much as I can from others, and I am truly hopeful that others will

I would like to comment on your Jesus family tomb article. You can always find arguments to support your belief system and disregard other arguments that do not fit in with your beliefs. This is only natural. Because you only chose to choose quotes from people that would like to discredit the documentary it is clear where you stand. I

   This is one of the reasons I am working on a book: there are so many little tidbits of important information floating about on the net, in this book, that article, this old journal entry, that trying to keep it all straight is pretty difficult. That is part and parcel of the problem with the Jacobovici/Cameron/Tabor/Pellegrino project: it merrily skipped

   I will be joining Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron today and tomorrow on the tomb story. Here’s the link. Listen in at 3pm EST.

   It is the morning after. Those with an interest in the subject of the resurrection have already seen the film. As most of you know, today I launch into a high-speed book writing project to attempt to collect, collate, and present in a clear and understandable fashion the main arguments and facts regarding the Talpiot Tomb, DNA, patina, statistics, gnostic

   I am very thankful that Dr. Matheson, the paleo-DNA expert who is featured in The Jesus Family Tomb and in the film to be seen on Discovery this weekend replied to my e-mail today. He must be deluged right now! I feel sorry for him. In any case, I had asked the following: On page 172 of The Jesus Family

   With the film airing in only a few days, this item of information is very interesting. We are getting a number of very helpful e-mails, and Laurie sent us a URL with this information in it. Jacobovici discusses in the body of the book and its conclusion the work of Bellarmino Bagatti and the “necropolis” he uncovered in Jerusalem called

   Certain aspects of the conspiracy theory laden movie/book by Jacobovici and Pellegrino have not yet been given much attention in the media or in the Christian responses thereto. As our regular readers know, I will be launching into a book-length rebuttal and examination when I return home Monday. But till then, a few items should be noted:    1) Jacobovici was

   My apologies on being so late on this. I will be on WLFJ-AM at 1pm EST today on the program “Calling for Truth” to discuss the tomb issue. Here’s the live link.    Update: Just finished the program, the archive should be posted here.

   Ben Witherington has read The Family Tomb of Jesus and I am thankful to see he has focused upon the same problems I have identified in the work. He also has some quotes from Bauckham on the translation of “Mara” as well.

   I am boarding my flight back east and just wanted to report that James Cameron’s preface to the tomb book can only be described as “sadly naïve.”. Wide-eyed acceptance of absurd claims joined with a gross and abysmal ignorance of simple historical facts and methodology. A bad start to be sure! More when we land.

   I am listening to Larry King Live. At least the outlines are becoming very clear, even before the release of the video. (I find it ironic that Jacobovici keeps pointing out people who are responding to his claims have not seen the film as if that means something. Well, try following the normal canons of scholarship so that those responding

   I’ve created a blog category “Tomb Issues” for the on-going discussion of the claims regarding the 1980 ossuary finds. Unless the on-going fraud trial in Israel right now turns up conclusive evidence of tampering regarding the inscription on the James ossuary (and hence blows this entire thing up–which may, I emphasize may, explain in part the speed at which this

   At this very moment, in New York City, a press conference is getting underway. Some ancient ossuaries are being displayed, and the key men involved in the production of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. Here are a couple of links (here / here).    A statement in the Discovery Channel press release immediately makes any sober-minded person sigh in frustration and,