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