Talk to Investigate the Validity of Jesus' Tomb

Jodi Magness, a renowned archaeologist and Kenan distinguished professor in early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examines the validity of claims that Jesus’ burial has been found in Jerusalem during a lecture on Thursday, March 12, at 3:30 p.m. in Westmont’s Porter Theatre. The lecture, “Ossuaries and the Burials of Jesus and James,” is part of an ongoing, joint lecture series with UC Santa Barbara and Westmont on the New Testament and early Christianity. It is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact  Helen Rhee, associate professor of religious studies, at (805) 565-6834.

In 2002, an ossuary inscribed “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus” surfaced in the hands of a private collector. A few years later, a Discovery Channel documentary and related book claimed that the tomb of Jesus and his family had been found in Jerusalem. Magness offers a slide-illustrated examination of these claims in light of archaeological and historical evidence for ancient Jewish tombs and burial customs in Jerusalem.

Magness’ book “The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls” won the 2003 Biblical Archaeology Society’s Award for Best Popular Book in Archaeology in 2001-02 and was selected as an Outstanding Academic Book for 2003 by Choice Magazine. Magness’ book “The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine” received the 2006 Irene Levi-Sala Book Prize in the category of nonfiction on the archaeology of Israel.

Magness’ other books include “Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus,” “Follow the Wise: Studies in Jewish History and Culture in Honor of Lee I. Levine” and “Debating Qumran: Collected Essays on Its Archaeology.”

Her research interests, which focus on Palestine in the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods and Diaspora Judaism in the Roman world, include ancient pottery, ancient synagogues, Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Roman army in the East.

Magness has participated on 20 different excavations in Israel and Greece, including co-directing the 1995 excavations in the Roman siege works at Masada.