Thoughts on the "lost tomb"

Eric Dolson's opinion piece "The dilemma of the lost tomb" raised some interesting issues. The response of some Christian leaders, study of scripture and how to determine accurate sources of information are some of the issues he raised in his piece.

The topic of "the lost tomb" has already caused much ink to be spilled, hands to be wrung and anger to be vented among academics and scholars as well as those in the general public. The question arises: what is really taking place here, with all this attention and energy focused on a "made for television" event?

I believe that what this ultimately points to is that there is a hunger and desire to learn more about faith and spirit. Trying to grasp the history shows a desire to seek a firm anchor from which to proceed into the spiritual.

Whether we are aware of it or not, there is a cultural shift underway, a willingness to explore the mystical. We can thank science for that shift, in particular Quantum Mechanics and Physics. This field of science is willing to actively explore the unseen and the yet-to-be-proven. It is a view of the cosmos based on theory, with the theory based on what is expressed in reality, but yet unseen. Doubtful? Consider string theory or the theory of parallel universes or the greatest theory of them all which impacts us each day - the theory of relativity.

The language Quantum Mechanics uses is very familiar to the Church in that it is a language that is trying its best to express the reality of what happens beyond our limited view.

I find that much of my time is spent in teaching and exploring a faith that is called to have one foot in the world and the other in heaven. There is an increasing desire among Christians to learn about the history of our faith, especially through fields such as archaeology. Such learning allows us to take dissenting views not as threats that could destroy our faith but rather as invitations to dialog. The needful thing, then, is to prepare for such challenges by finding good, scholarly sources of information so that we might speak with some authority.

The problem with James Cameron's offering, "The Tomb of Jesus," is that for many this may be the only source of information they will have on the subject. I am loath to have people educate themselves through the media of commercial television rather than through academic sources. After all, television is the medium that has given us such great works such as "Alien Autopsy" and "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault."

In his "documentary," Cameron is not coming up with anything new, he is simply arranging the dots of the information, and we all know the dangers of subjective dot arraigning.

The tomb the program refers to was discovered in 1980 by a work crew and excavated under the direction of Professor Amos Kloner, an archaeologist who was the Israeli Antiquities Authority District archaeologist for Jerusalem.

Prof. Kloner's findings, published in Atiqot (a professional magazine of the IAA) in 1996, would be a much better source of information about the site. In all of Prof. Kloner's interviews he has held that this is not the tomb of Jesus, and he has been supported in his findings by many in the academic community, a community, I might add, that has had some problems with the conclusions drawn and methods used by the producers of this made for television event. This is always a problem when potential profit takes center stage as a motivating force for publication or presentation over true academic discourse.

At this point I want to encourage everyone, whether a Christian or outside of the community of believers, to seek the best sources of information possible. Please do not rely simply on sources written for mass publication alone. Between our library system, bookstores and even good Internet research, there are readily accessible materials.

Know that Christian clergy like myself and others in your community are willing to explore and enter into the dialog - please invite us. I leave you with, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein.