NEWS FEATURE: `James Ossuary’ Faces Uncertain Future

c. 2003 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ For the first time since its dramatic unveiling in November in Toronto, the stone casket that may have housed the bones of James, brother of Jesus, has returned home to be examined by experts in Israel’s Antiquities Authority. After the hoopla surrounding the initial exhibition at the Royal […]

c. 2003 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ For the first time since its dramatic unveiling in November in Toronto, the stone casket that may have housed the bones of James, brother of Jesus, has returned home to be examined by experts in Israel’s Antiquities Authority.

After the hoopla surrounding the initial exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum that concluded Dec. 29, the return earlier this month was accomplished amid an air of uncertainty over what will be the final fate of the religious and archaeological treasure.


Oded Golan, the Israeli owner of the ossuary, or bone box, says he would like to see the object continue to be displayed before the public, beginning with a possible Easter showing at a Houston museum, which has asked to put the object on exhibit.

In a rare interview, Golan told RNS he hoped the piece might eventually become an object of joint study by both Christians and Jews, and even spur cooperative endeavors in the archaeological field between theologians and archaeologists.

But Israel’s Ministry of Tourism is also eager to promote the new find, which could help boost Israel’s sagging political image and tourism industry.

But before the casket goes on display anywhere else, Golan must first have the box examined by Israeli Antiquities Authority officials, as the law here requires in the case of a newly discovered artifact of potential significance. The Antiquities Authority is authorized to hold the item for up to 90 days in order to confirm its authenticity and archaeological value.

Following that procedure, Israeli government authorities could declare the box a “national treasure.” That would mean the ossuary may not be sold outside Israel or moved permanently to another country, although it might be temporarily displayed abroad with official permission.

“We have received the request from the Houston museum to display it for Easter (April 20). We’ll just have to see,” Shuka Dorfman, director general of the Antiquities Authority, told RNS. “We are an independent body. But we’re not going to keep the ossuary for any time longer than is necessary to examine it.

“We can’t say anything about the authenticity of the ossuary yet because none of our people have examined it,” Dorfman added. “At the same time, in the event that we come to the conclusion that it is authentic, then the Minister of Education is authorized to declare it to be a `national treasure.”’


Dorfman said the Antiquities Authority plans to send the object to Israel’s Weizman Institute, the country’s most prominent scientific research center, to conduct independent tests to certify the age of the ossuary.

Many scholars already regard the ossuary as not only an authentic link to the New Testament James, but also an item that provides a unique archaeological reference to the figure of Jesus.

Until its discovery, references to Jesus could be found in historical texts but not in actual artifacts.

Last fall, experts at the Israel Geological Survey who examined the piece said the ossuary dated to the first century A.D. In addition, a noted French paleographer, or ancient handwriting expert, Andre Lemaire, said the inscription appeared to be an authentic example of first century Aramaic script.

However, the fact that the Antiquities Authority was not informed of the ossuary’s apparent significance immediately after those initial tests left lingering bad blood between officials there and Golan.

“The collector put us in an uncomfortable situation,” said Dorfman. “If he had turned to us, we would have cooperated with him. We would have helped him to check it out.


“Instead, all we received from him at the beginning was a routine request to put an ossuary box on display in Toronto for a convention of the Biblical Archaeology Society. We gave it approval, and didn’t notice anything.

“Then after the object had already left the country, Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, gave us a copy of the initial article by Lemaire that broke the story of the find in the November-December issue _ just three days before a press conference announcement. Only then did we understand that this ossuary was from the time of Jesus and was perhaps linked to his brother.”

Golan, however, insists he followed the letter of the law.

“Most people here don’t even ask for a permit, they just take things out of the country. Many valuable antiquities that have left the country in recent decades have thus left illegally, and today they are sitting in private collections abroad,” he said. “I’m a very unusual case in that I went and asked for an permit.

“But I don’t think anyone, including Hershel Shanks, understood what a wide impact the publication of this ossuary would have, or the sensation that it would create.”

Even if the Antiquities Authority confirms the authenticity of the piece and declares it to be a national treasure, officials technically will have no control over who might purchase the object here in Israel, and whether it would be displayed locally or remained locked in a private archive.

But officials like Dorfman, a former army general, are nonetheless clear about their hopes and expectations.


“I’d like to see an Israeli national institution, such as a museum, eventually acquire it,” Dorfman said. “If it is shown to be authentic, we would like it to be on display and accessible.”

DEA END FLETCHER

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