Saying the Israeli government acted too quickly in declaring an artifact purported to be the burial box of Jesus’ brother James a fake, scholars now are claiming the ossuary could possibly be authentic.
The limestone burial box with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” first made headlines over a year ago. In June, Israel’s Antiquities Authority declared the inscription on the box a fraud.
But on Sunday, scholars at a joint conference of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature in Atlanta said the ossuary should be examined more closely.
 The ossuary in question |
“I don’t know for sure whether this is a forged inscription, and I’m sort of cast as a defender of the inscription. I’m not,” moderator Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archeology Review, which published the initial findings told the Associated Press. “What I do know is, Israeli authorities have badly managed the affair.”
Said Shanks, “Those who have attacked it have not proven their case as far as I’m concerned.”
The Israeli organization claimed the box did date back to the first century but that the inscription was added in modern times.
The properties the group said proved it was a forgery could be the result of over-cleaning, other experts have said.
Speaking recently at the University of Dallas, the Rev. Joseph Fitzmyer, a noted Jesuit scholar, said he, too, doubted the Antiquities Authority conclusion, reported Catholic News Service.
The ossuary had been valued at up to $2 million because of the claimed link with Jesus, AP reports.
If it is determined to be authentic, the relic would be the earliest known reference to Jesus, dating back to A.D. 62.
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