好莱坞出品的耶稣之墓
16日, 普林斯顿神学院(PTSEM)在耶路撒冷开了一个关于 Talpiot Tomb 的会, 从会程安排上看, 这次开会群贤毕至, 少长咸集, 胜友如云, 高朋满座.
所谓的 Talpiot Tomb 就是好莱坞导演 James Cameron 和 Simcha Jacobovici 一起拍的 Lost Tomb of Jesus 里面那个所谓的“耶稣之墓”. 本来一个普通的一世纪犹太墓穴, 因为里面有几个诸如“约瑟的儿子约书亚”(“耶稣”的犹太名是约书亚, “Yeshua bar Yehosef”是亚兰文, 即 Mel Gibson 拍的受难记耶稣的母语)、“马利亚”等名字的巧合, 就被吹成是耶稣的墓. 据说这是统计学, 也就是 Disraeli 说的那种统计学(`There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics’). 这些出土的名字都是当时也都是很常见的犹太人的名字, 照这种概率, “你姓陈, 我姓李, 你爹他姓张”就非得是李玉和一家不可了. 更没边的是, 居然还用了什么 DNA 化验, 也亏得他们想得出来.
学者们对这种“恶搞”当然嗤之以鼻, 没什么人真把这个墓穴当是耶稣的. 这次开会, Simcha Jacobovici 又大放厥词, 说什么学术界这次终于给他平反昭雪了:
Reached in Jerusalem, director/author Simcha Jacobovici said, “we feel totally vindicated. My work with James Cameron was the catalyst for an international symposium that has finally considered the evidence and is opening the door for further research. It’s time that the world seriously considered that the Jesus family tomb may very well have been located.”
(StreetInsider.com, Princeton Conference Vindicates Associated Producers James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici on “Lost Tomb of Jesus”, 16 Jan. 2008.)
这种报道只能当作娱乐新闻. 作为与会学者之一的 Stephen Pfann 讲得很清楚:
Throughout this conference, almost without exception, the archaeologists, scientists, epigraphers and textual scholars could find no compelling evidence that would support the claim that the Talpiot Tomb under discussion (one of many tombs in the Talpiot district of Jerusalem) was anything other than a first-century Jewish family tomb with no connection to any known historical family. There were a few scholars on hand, working in the literature and the social sciences, who would contend that there was some likelihood that the tomb was actually the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
(Stephen Pfann, One more nail in the Ossuary, 17 Jan. 2008.)
不过, 最富有戏剧性的一幕在于, 当年发掘这个墓穴的 Joseph Gat 的遗孀 Ruth Gat 在接受会议颁发给她亡夫的奖励以表彰其考古贡献时, 她说他丈夫生前也相信这个墓穴是耶稣的. 可是, 在金石碑文学家把 Yeshua 那几个字解读出来以前, Joseph Gat 就已经过逝了:
There was not a single archaeologist present who believed that it would be a responsible act to confirm that this was the family tomb of Jesus. However, mysteriously, almost from the grave, in the final session, the original excavator Joseph Gat, was said by his widow to have believed this. This seemed mysterious to the archaeologists present because it was understood that it took an epigrapher of the caliber of Joseph Naveh to actually decipher the inscription (which was only done after the death of Joseph Gat, by the way). Naveh concluded that, although it was difficult to read, the first name was most likely to be read as “Yeshua?” based in part on the fact that the name “Yeshua” shows up on another ossuary in the tomb. Because of this, he left the name “Yeshua?” with a question mark and all scholars since then, including Rachmani, left the question mark in because of the difficulty of the reading.
同上.
References and Links
- StreetInsider.com, Princeton Conference Vindicates Associated Producers James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici on “Lost Tomb of Jesus”, 16 Jan. 2008.
- Stephen Pfann, One more nail in the Ossuary, 17 Jan. 2008.