Predilections—Is the “Brother of Jesus” Inscription a Forgery? - The BAS Library
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Predilections—Is the “Brother of Jesus” Inscription a Forgery?

By Hershel Shanks

Although the famous “Brother of Jesus” inscription on an ancient ossuary (bone box) has been authenticated by two world-class paleographers, American paleographer Christopher Rollston has judged the inscription 75–85 percent a forgery on an Easter-time TV program. Is his judgment based solely on his predilection against unprovenanced inscriptions?

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Footnotes

1.

André Lemaire, “Burial Box of James the Brother of Jesus,” BAR 28:06.

2.

“The Storm over the Bone Box,” BAR 29:05.

3.

Hershel Shanks, “‘Brother of Jesus’ Inscription Is Authentic!” BAR 38:04.

4.

“Update: Finds or Fakes?” BAR 31:02.

Endnotes

1.

Pieter W. van der Horst, Saxa Judaica Loquuntur: Lessons from Early Jewish Inscriptions, Biblical Interpretation Series 134 (Leiden: Brill, 2015), pp. 67–87.

2.

Van der Horst, Saxa Judaica Loquuntur, p. 79.

3.

The following quotes are from Van der Horst, Saxa Judaica Loquuntur, pp. 79­–81.

4.

Van der Horst, Saxa Judaica Loquuntur, pp. 81, 83.

5.

Van der Horst, Saxa Judaica Loquuntur, p. 84, note 44.

6.

In a Christmas interview in 2013, Rollston offered “to wager that the second half [of the inscription] was added in modern times.” By March 2015, the chances went up to 75–85 percent, but no additional explanation was given.

7.

Christopher Rollston, “The James Ossuary (Ya‘akov Ossuary): Bullet Point Synopsis About a Probable Modern Forgery,” Rollston Epigraphy (blog), March 22, 2015, www.rollstonepigraphy.com/?p=699.

8.

Horace, Ars Poetica 359.

9.

If Golan owned the ossuary since the mid-1970s, it would be impossible for it to have come from the Talpiot tomb, as suggested by James Tabor, among others. The tomb was not excavated until 1980.