Expert: James Cameron's 'Jesus Tomb' Claim Based on Faulty Reading

Wednesday, March 14, 2007
AP

JERUSALEM
A scholar looking into the factual basis of a popular but widely criticized documentary that claims to have located the tomb of Jesus said Tuesday that a crucial piece of evidence filmmakers used to support their claim is a mistake.
Stephen Pfann, a textual scholar and paleographer at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, said he has released a paper claiming the makers of "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" were mistaken when they identified an ancient ossuary from the cave as belonging to the New Testament's Mary Magdalene.
The film's director, Simcha Jacobovici, responded that other researchers agreed with the documentary's conclusions.

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Archaeology Center.

Produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron, the documentary has drawn intense media coverage for its claims challenging accepted Christian dogma.
Despite widespread ridicule from scholars, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" drew more than 4 million viewers when it aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4.
A companion book, "The Jesus Family Tomb," has rocketed to sixth place on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list.
The film and book suggest that a first-century ossuary found in a south Jerusalem cave in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus, contradicting the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.
Ossuaries are stone boxes used at the time to store the bones of the dead.
The filmmakers also suggest that Mary Magdalene was buried in the tomb, that she and Jesus were married, and that an ossuary labeled "Judah son of Jesus" belonged to their son.
The scholars who analyzed the Greek inscription on one of the ossuaries after its discovery read it as "Mariamene e Mara," meaning "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master."
Before the movie was screened, Jacobovici said that particular inscription provided crucial support for his claim. The name Mariamene is rare, and in some early Christian texts it is believed to refer to Mary Magdalene.
But having analyzed the inscription, Pfann published a detailed article on his university's Web site asserting that it doesn't read "Mariamene" at all.

• Click here to read Pfann's argument that the name is really two separate names.

The inscription, Pfann said, is made up of two names inscribed by two different hands: the first, "Mariame," was inscribed in a formal Greek script, and later, when the bones of another woman were added to the box, another scribe using a different cursive script added the words "kai Mara," meaning "and Mara."
Mara is a different form of the name Martha.
According to Pfann's reading, the ossuary did not house the bones of "Mary the teacher," but rather of two women, "Mary and Martha."
"In view of the above, there is no longer any reason to be tempted to link this ossuary ... to Mary Magdalene or any other person in biblical, non-biblical or church tradition," Pfann wrote.
In the interest of telling a good story, Pfann said, the documentary engaged in some "fudging" of the facts.
"James Cameron is a great guru of science fiction, and he's taking it to a new level with Simcha Jacobovici. You take a little bit of science, spin a good yarn out of it and you get another 'Terminator' or 'Life of Brian,'" said Pfann, who briefly appeared as an ossuary expert in the documentary.
In Israel on Tuesday for a screening of the film, the Toronto-based Jacobovici welcomed Pfann's criticism, saying "every inscription should be re-examined."
But Jacobovici said scholars who researched the ossuary in the past agreed with the film's reading.
"Anyone who looks at it can see that the script was written by the same hand," he added.
Jacobovici has faced criticism much tougher than Pfann's academic critique.
The film has been termed "archaeo-porn," and Jacobovici has been accused of "pimping the Bible."
Jacobovici attributes most of the criticism to scholars' discomfort with journalists "casting light into their ossuary monopoly."
"What we're doing is democratizing this knowledge, and this is driving some people crazy," he said.

Scholars: 'Jesus tomb' stats don't add up

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—An often-quoted statistic behind the so-called "Jesus tomb" is inflated and based on false assumptions, leading biblical scholars say.
"The Lost Tomb of Jesus" documentary aired on the Discovery Channel March 4, claiming a tomb in Jerusalem once housed the bones of Jesus and his family and that the odds of it not being Christ's tomb are only 1 in 600.
That statistic has formed the core of the argument for the program's backers, who say the likelihood of finding another tomb with ossuaries containing the inscriptions "Jesus son of Joseph," "Mary," "Mariamene e Mara" and "Jose" is slim. The documentary said "Mary" was Jesus' mother, "Mariamene" his wife Mary Magdalene, and Jose his brother. Two other ossuaries found in the tomb—those of a Matthew and a "Judah son of Jesus"—also were members of Jesus' family, with Matthew being of an unknown relation and Judah being the son of Christ and Mary Magdalene, the documentary claimed. (The statistic, though, did not include Matthew or Judah in the formula.)
The overwhelming majority of archaeologists and scholars have refuted the claims, and the statistician behind the numbers—Andrey Feuerverger of the University of Toronto—posted a statement on the school's website saying his statistic "depend[s] heavily on the assumptions that go into it."
In fact, one religious scholar, Louisiana College's Charles Quarles, put together his own statistics—excluding Mariamene since he believes the evidence is overwhelmingly against her being Mary Magdalene—and came up with something very different from Feuerverger. Quarles says between 56 and 105 males in Jerusalem during Jesus' time would have had a father named Joseph and close relatives named Mary and Jose. Thus, according to Quarles, it is very unlikely the tomb belongs to Christ—even if one discounts the bodily resurrection.
Quarles' paper is available online: www.lacollege.edu/ifl/jesus_tomb.pdf

'The Lost Tomb of Jesus' is a fanciful tale, Mohler says on CNN

March 12, 2007
By Jeff Robinson

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, discussed the supposed finding of Jesus' tomb on CNN's Larry King Live, Feb. 26.

The alleged discovery by archaeologists and genetic scientists of the "lost tomb of Jesus" is nothing more than a made-for-television hoax that will not undermine the Christian faith, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Feb. 26 on CNN's Larry King Live. A documentary titled "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," which aired on the Discovery Channel March 4, purports to present archaeological, statistical and genetic science findings that demonstrate a tomb unearthed in 1980 contains the remains of Jesus and His family. Executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici told viewers the so-called DNA evidence from the tomb makes a compelling case that it contained the remains of Jesus and His family. The tomb is inscribed with the name of "Jesus, son of Joseph," along with five others: Mary Magdalene; Judah, which the documentary claims is Jesus' son; Joseph; Matthew and another Mary. Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the use of alleged "DNA evidence" to prop up the documentary's theory is impossible to a point of being farcical. The archaeologists who unearthed the tomb nearly three decades ago in Talpiot, Jerusalem, dismissed such claims, he said. "The archaeologists there in Israel, who are the closest to this, who have the greatest expertise, are not only looking at this with skepticism, but basically dismissing its claims," Mohler said."The DNA testing is to me the most laughable aspect of all of this. I mean, frankly, there could be a thousand, thousand different explanations for whatever DNA pattern they could find. No one has the DNA of Mary. Trying to bring this into a modern crime investigation is like trying to go back and figure out who exactly put the first dagger into Julius Caesar. It's impossible."Cameron and Jacobovici say the statistical improbability of having Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Judah, "Jesus' son," in the same tomb, gives significant credibility to the documentary's thesis. Jacobovici said the documentary aims "to report the news and not to engage in theology" and argues that DNA technology not available in 1980 has helped to identify the tomb's occupants. Calling the documentary's claims "far-fetched," Mohler said Christians will continue to stand on the truth of Scripture that Jesus rose from the dead and will not be swayed by pseudo-science or statistics. "There is no time machine here that is going to take us back to the first century and actually tell us what happened there," he said. "I'm going to base my beliefs on the Scriptures which hold together far better than the kind of farcical documentary we are talking about here, throwing in a little bit of statistics. I mean, you're talking about the most common names, especially the most common male names, also female with the name Mary, you're talking about anything that could be found just about anywhere." James Tabor, chairman of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, also appeared on the program. Tabor said he has been working on the findings for the past three or four years and, due to the cluster of names found on the tomb and the statistical probabilities involved, sees the documentary's theory as "very worthy of consideration." Mohler expressed surprise at Tabor's sympathy for the theory and said the documentary is nothing more than made-for-television sensationalism. "We are talking about moving all of the pieces here to make for sensational television. And frankly, that's why I think most Christians are going to take this without any seriousness at all," he said. Donohue agreed and urged that the documentary's appearance during the season in which Christians celebrate the Lord's resurrection is standard secularist fare. Year in and year out, new theories debunking the claims of Christ appear just in time for Easter, he said. Like some of Cameron's other works, which include "The Terminator," "Aliens" and "Titanic," the latest flick is pure science fiction, Donohue said. "Give me a call when somebody has got the real evidence on something like this," Donohue said. "Every Lenten season, we are treated to the same kind of speculation. 'Jesus was just a carpenter (they say).' I suppose we will learn next year He did His apprenticeship at Home Depot or Lowe's. I'm just simply not going to sit here and listen to something about an argument which is predicated on nothing but idle speculation."It is Scripture and not a trumped-up television documentary that is the final arbiter of truth for the believer, Mohler said. If Jesus had remained in the tomb, first-century opponents of Christianity would most certainly have found His body and put it on public display, Mohler said, adding that Christ's disciples would not have died for beliefs they knew to be false."In any court of law, you can't just call anything evidence," he said. "It has to be an evidence trail that makes sense. It has to be evidentiary material that fits the context."

'Jesus tomb' film factually inaccurate - scholar

AP

Occupied Jerusalem: A scholar looking into the factual basis of a popular but widely criticised documentary film that claims to have located the tomb of Jesus yesterday said that a crucial piece of evidence filmmakers used to support their claim is a mistake.

Stephen Pfann, a textual scholar and paleographer at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, said the makers of The Lost Tomb of Jesus were mistaken when they identified an ancient ossuary from the cave as belonging to the New Testament's Mary Magdalene.

The scholars who analysed the inscription on one of the ossuaries read it as "Mariamene e Mara," meaning "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master." Director Simcha Jacobovici said that particular inscription provided crucial support for his claim.

The inscription, Pfann said, is made up of two names inscribed by two different hands: the first, "Mariame," was inscribed in a formal Greek script, and later, when the bones of another woman were added to the box, another scribe using a different cursive script added the words "kai Mara," meaning "and Mara." Mara is a different form of the name Martha.

According to Pfann, the ossuary did not house the bones of "Mary the teacher," but rather of two women, "Mary and Martha."

'Lost Tomb' begins, ends with no credibility

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus" undermines its own case within the first minute of the show. They say, "The Gospels tell us he was buried in a tomb and two days later Mary Magdalene, one of his closest disciples, found the tomb empty. But according to the Gospel of Matthew, there was another story circulating after Jesus' death. And though the Gospel calls it a lie, there was rumor that Jesus' disciples secretly took their master's body, presumably to give him a permanent burial."
Here they offer contradicting facts from the same source. Which is true? Did Jesus rise again or was his body stolen? If they choose the first option, the show is over. Even though their source (the book of Matthew) calls the second option a lie, they believe this to be true and build their case around it. If the biblical account is fully accurate, then this refutes their find. If it is fiction, it doesn't help them because they can't draw on it for evidence to support their case. Given this, how can any credibility be given to the show?

They fail miserably in trying to prove his body was there by using maternal DNA testing. Why not test the DNA of Mary and Judah in relation to the DNA of Jesus? If they tested Jesus and his mother Mary and found no match, they fail to prove their point. Yet they chose to test the DNA between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This proved they weren't brother and sister, so they presumed they were married. The DNA test doesn't provide evidence that this is the Jesus of the Gospels, as they want us to believe.

Perhaps the most damage done to their case is when they misquote the Scriptures to prove their point. They say that Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' closest disciples. The Bible never makes such a claim. They suggest that Jesus said the book of Jonah was the key to his ministry. Jesus never referred to this book as "the key to his ministry." While on the cross, they claim that Jesus was telling his wife to take care of their son. Yet the Gospel of John clearly says he was speaking to his mother.

They begin and end their case with a lot of ifs. If this is Jesus the son of Joseph and if this is Mary his mother, and if this is Joseph his brother, and if this is Mary Magdalene. They begin their case with ifs, but in order to convince us their findings are true, they should end with undisputable facts and not just assumptions. The show did more to damage its own credibility than the credibility of the Bible.

Scholar disputes inscription on “Jesus tomb” box

by Nancy Reyes on 14 March, 2007

The documentary on the so called “Jesus tomb” made several technical errors in their interpretation of the inscription of the bonebox they insist was Mary Magdalen’s bonebox, says one scholar.
The documentary claims that scholars read the inscription on one box as “Mariamene e Mara,” meaning “Mary the teacher” or “Mary the master.”
However, Stephen Pfann, a textual scholar and paleographer at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, claims that an analysis of the inscription shows that there were two names written by two different hands, and that the names were Mary and Martha.
He published the inscription on his website which clearly shows that the letters that the two parts of the inscription have in common indeed are shaped differently, so were probably inscribed by a different hand. The article also notes that it was common to combine the bones of several people in the same box.Instead of answering the criticism with experts in paleography, or providing the names and expertise of those he had interpret the inscriptions, Jacobovici merely dismisses the criticism as scholars discomfort with journalists “casting light into their ossuary monopoly.”
Yup. When you can’t dismiss the facts, criticize the expert’s motives.
There are, of course, other criticisms by both archeologists and biblical scholars of the claims, but this one is critical, since it is hard evidence rather than evidence based on statistics or probability. Indeed, it resembles the “Dan Rather” scandal, where experts in fonts and printing were the first ones to point out that forgery.
After all, one can have opinions which Jesus was buried in the tomb, or if the Romans were so incompetent that they never bothered to open the tomb to stop the growth of a annoying sect, but it’s hard to argue with an expert on handwriting, especially when the difference in the inscriptions is obvious even to an untrained observer.

Scholar: 'Jesus Tomb' Makers Wrong

By Matti Friedman
March 14, 2007 7:57AM
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Despite widespread ridicule from scholars, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" drew more than 4 million viewers when it aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4. The film suggests that a first-century ossuary found in a south Jerusalem cave in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus, contradicting the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.
A scholar looking into the factual basis of a popular but widely criticized documentary that claims to have located the tomb of Jesus said Tuesday that a crucial piece of evidence filmmakers used to support their claim is a mistake.
Stephen Pfann, a textual scholar and paleographer at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, said he has released a paper claiming the makers of "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" were mistaken when they identified an ancient ossuary from the cave as belonging to the New Testament's Mary Magdalene.
The film's director, Simcha Jacobovici, responded that other researchers agreed with the documentary's conclusions.
Produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron, the documentary has drawn intense media coverage for its claims challenging accepted Christian dogma.
Despite widespread ridicule from scholars, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" drew more than 4 million viewers when it aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4. A companion book, "The Jesus Family Tomb," has rocketed to sixth place on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list.
The film and book suggest that a first-century ossuary found in a south Jerusalem cave in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus, contradicting the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Ossuaries are stone boxes used at the time to store the bones of the dead.
The filmmakers also suggest that Mary Magdalene was buried in the tomb, that she and Jesus were married, and that an ossuary labeled "Judah son of Jesus" belonged to their son.
The scholars who analyzed the Greek inscription on one of the ossuaries after its discovery read it as "Mariamene e Mara," meaning "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master."
Before the movie was screened, Jacobovici said that particular inscription provided crucial support for his claim. The name Mariamene is rare, and in some early Christian texts it is believed to refer to Mary Magdalene.
But having analyzed the inscription, Pfann published a detailed article on his university's Web site asserting that it doesn't read "Mariamene" at all.
The inscription, Pfann said, is made up of two names inscribed by two different hands: the first, "Mariame," was inscribed in a formal Greek script, and later, when the bones of another woman were added to the box, another scribe using a different cursive script added the words "kai Mara," meaning "and Mara." Mara is a different form of the name Martha.
According to Pfann's reading, the ossuary did not house the bones of "Mary the teacher," but rather of two women, "Mary and Martha."
"In view of the above, there is no longer any reason to be tempted to link this ossuary ... to Mary Magdalene or any other person in biblical, non-biblical or church tradition," Pfann wrote.
In the interest of telling a good story, Pfann said, the documentary engaged in some "fudging" of the facts.
"James Cameron is a great guru of science fiction, and he's taking it to a new level with Simcha Jacobovici. You take a little bit of science, spin a good yarn out of it and you get another 'Terminator' or 'Life of Brian,'" said Pfann, who briefly appeared as an ossuary expert in the documentary.
In Israel on Tuesday for a screening of the film, the Toronto-based Jacobovici welcomed Pfann's criticism, saying "every inscription should be re-examined."
But Jacobovici said scholars who researched the ossuary in the past agreed with the film's reading. "Anyone who looks at it can see that the script was written by the same hand," he added.
Jacobovici has faced criticism much tougher than Pfann's academic critique. The film has been termed "archaeo-porn," and Jacobovici has been accused of "pimping the Bible."
Jacobovici attributes most of the criticism to scholars' discomfort with journalists "casting light into their ossuary monopoly."
"What we're doing is democratizing this knowledge, and this is driving some people crazy," he said.

Letters: The evidence easily debunks 'Jesus tomb' theory

By THURBER D. PROFFITT, III, PH.D.

The sensationalists are at it again this Easter season, claiming they have found Jesus' tomb "Digging up doubt," Nation& World, Feb. 27]. In 2006, an Italian took a priest to court to prove Jesus never lived. Jesus Seminar theologian John Dominic Crossan says Jesus was not buried. Another believes he survived the crucifixion. Some Muslims contend he is buried in Kashmir.
So what is the truth? For starters, Jesus of Nazareth is a historical person. The pagan Roman historians Tacitus ("Annals," AD 115) and Suetonius ("Lives of the Twelve Caesars," A.D. 125 ) mention him as a real person. So, too, the historian Flavius Josephus refers to Jesus in a contested passage, as does the Talmud, which are Jewish sources. Then there are the gospels, earlier Jewish and Gentile sources.
We have only one biography of Socrates, a late copy at that, but no one questions his historicity, so why question Jesus' historicity or, for that matter, the historicity of the events surrounding Jesus' trial and punishment, for in these cases there are more early attesting sources than for Socrates.
Jesus' trial and punishment were par for the course during the first century. Josephus' account tells of a Jewish prophet who died in the siege of Jerusalem after having been arrested by leading citizens. He was beaten and turned over to a Roman governor, who beat him again in lieu of crucifixion before releasing him, as the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate had sought to do with Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus was crucified, killed by suffocation, bleeding, low blood pressure and possibly heat stroke and dehydration. Those who claim he did not die on the cross do not take Roman capital punishment seriously. Only one person is known to have survived crucifixion, one of three friends whom Josephus asked the Romans to release from their crosses. Furthermore, the evidence of a Roman graffito [ancient drawing or writing etched on a wall or other surface]depicts Jesus as a crucified ass. The arguments and evidence suggest that we have no reason to believe Jesus was not dead when he was buried.
J.D. Crossan believes Romans fed crucified criminals to the dogs, hence no burial. Yet the crucified remains of a first-century Jew tell a different tale, and Josephus says that Jewish victims of crucifixion were always buried before sundown.
Some question whether Joseph of Arimathea could request Jesus' body to bury him that quickly. That Josephus could document requests for burial before sundown in the case of crucified Jews suggests Joseph of Arimathea could request Jesus' body also – it depended on whether one had the connections to do so.
Some question if Jesus could be buried in a borrowed tomb. As to this, we have an inscription from Rome by one Sextus Marianus Romulus against unauthorized burials in his family tomb. Thus tombs could be borrowed, with or without permission
Then there is the Nazareth decree/inscription, usually dated to the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-45), against grave robbing. Why such an inscription in Palestine? Why, indeed, unless the tomb was empty.
Finally there is the expectation in ancient Judaism that the resurrection would occur at the end, not in the middle of history. Why would Second-Temple Jewish men accept women's testimony that Jesus had been resurrected? Why indeed? This belief in Jesus' resurrection set the Jesus messianists apart from other Jewish messianists. This is the real Easter story, that Jesus' bones wouldn't be found in a tomb.
So what of the ossuary [stone boxes for burial of human bones]referred to in the article, "Digging up doubt"? Has the family tomb of Jesus been found? Since 1940, four ossuaries bearing the name Yeshua have been found. Not being a native Jerusalemite, one would expect, in keeping with Second Temple convention, that the name would read Yeshua bar Yosef of Natzaret (or Capernaum, the Galil, or Bethlehem). Furthermore, family tombs were usually in the family's hometown, which was not Jerusalem in the case of Jesus of Nazareth. Only the wealthy or upper middle class could afford rock-hewn tombs, and only in such are ossuaries found. Jesus was not wealthy.
So, yes, Jesus' family tomb has been found, but which Jesus? Certainly not the Jesus associated with Easter.

Scholar: 'Jesus Tomb' makers mistaken

Says ancient ossuary did not belong to New Testament's Mary Magdalene
By Matti Friedman
The Associated Press

Updated: 7:21 p.m. ET March 13, 2007

JERUSALEM - A scholar looking into the factual basis of a popular but widely criticized documentary that claims to have located the tomb of Jesus said Tuesday that a crucial piece of evidence filmmakers used to support their claim is a mistake.
Stephen Pfann, a textual scholar and paleographer at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, said he has released a paper claiming the makers of "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" were mistaken when they identified an ancient ossuary from the cave as belonging to the New Testament's Mary Magdalene.
The film's director, Simcha Jacobovici, responded that other researchers agreed with the documentary's conclusions.
Produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron, the documentary has drawn intense media coverage for its claims challenging accepted Christian dogma.
Despite widespread ridicule from scholars, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" drew more than 4 million viewers when it aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4. A companion book, "The Jesus Family Tomb," has rocketed to sixth place on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list.
The film and book suggest that a first-century ossuary found in a south Jerusalem cave in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus, contradicting the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Ossuaries are stone boxes used at the time to store the bones of the dead.
The filmmakers also suggest that Mary Magdalene was buried in the tomb, that she and Jesus were married, and that an ossuary labeled "Judah son of Jesus" belonged to their son.
The scholars who analyzed the Greek inscription on one of the ossuaries after its discovery read it as "Mariamene e Mara," meaning "Mary the teacher" or "Mary the master."
Before the movie was screened, Jacobovici said that particular inscription provided crucial support for his claim. The name Mariamene is rare, and in some early Christian texts it is believed to refer to Mary Magdalene.
But having analyzed the inscription, Pfann published a detailed article on his university's Web site asserting that it doesn't read "Mariamene" at all.
The inscription, Pfann said, is made up of two names inscribed by two different hands: the first, "Mariame," was inscribed in a formal Greek script, and later, when the bones of another woman were added to the box, another scribe using a different cursive script added the words "kai Mara," meaning "and Mara." Mara is a different form of the name Martha.
According to Pfann's reading, the ossuary did not house the bones of "Mary the teacher," but rather of two women, "Mary and Martha."
"In view of the above, there is no longer any reason to be tempted to link this ossuary ... to Mary Magdalene or any other person in biblical, non-biblical or church tradition," Pfann wrote.
In the interest of telling a good story, Pfann said, the documentary engaged in some "fudging" of the facts.
"James Cameron is a great guru of science fiction, and he's taking it to a new level with Simcha Jacobovici. You take a little bit of science, spin a good yarn out of it and you get another 'Terminator' or 'Life of Brian,'" said Pfann, who briefly appeared as an ossuary expert in the documentary.
In Israel on Tuesday for a screening of the film, the Toronto-based Jacobovici welcomed Pfann's criticism, saying "every inscription should be re-examined."
But Jacobovici said scholars who researched the ossuary in the past agreed with the film's reading. "Anyone who looks at it can see that the script was written by the same hand," he added.
Jacobovici has faced criticism much tougher than Pfann's academic critique. The film has been termed "archaeo-porn," and Jacobovici has been accused of "pimping the Bible."
Jacobovici attributes most of the criticism to scholars' discomfort with journalists "casting light into their ossuary monopoly."
"What we're doing is democratizing this knowledge, and this is driving some people crazy," he said.