Agenda Archeology

I mentioned - briefly - the James Cameron directed attempt to debunk the bible. He participated in a film project that claimed to have discovered the remains of Jesus, his wife and their son. Many scholars and scientists have eviscerated Cameron and company for their shoddy, theatrical attempt at "scholarship. But the "controversy" continues to be pumped (or pimped, as the case may be) by the media. But there is a very revealing quote right at the end of the article that exposes rather more about the real agenda than the person quoted appears to realize.

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.

Money quote:

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.

Interesting choice of words. So the goal is what? To take matters that actually do require a bit of knowledge and scholarship and toss them to the folks who have no education on the subject? Mold and shape the uniformed opinions? What exactly? Presenting a slanted, agenda-driven viewpoint and presenting it as pure-D-super-whamadyne TRUTH® is the new "democracy"? Bah. Hopefully, enough people have enough knowledge and wisdom to recognize a snake oil salesman when they see one.