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Don't look now, but after watching Dan Brown rake in huge profits from his ... um, historically based novel and film about the secret societies that covered up the truth about Jesus's death, Titanic director James Cameron wants in on the action. Apparently, Cameron plans to hold a press conference Monday in which he will claim to have discovered Christ's tomb, and yes, a James Caviezel look-alike is reportedly still in there. This from Time Magazine:[1]

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

No, it's not a re-make of "The Da Vinci Codes'. It's supposed to be true.

Let's go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way, revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua. Israel's prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn't associate the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a humble carpenter who couldn't afford a luxury crypt for his family. And all were common Jewish names.

There was also this little inconvenience that a few miles away, in the old city of Jerusalem, Christians for centuries had been worshipping the empty tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Christ's resurrection, after all, is the main foundation of the faith, proof that a boy born to a carpenter's wife in a manger is the Son of God.

But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.

Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in another movie,"King Kong", whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene.

The author of this article, Tim McGirk, claims that this film is not a remake of The Da Vinci Code, and to a certain extent that is probably true. It's actually a remake of Da Vinci and a number of other recent films and books. For example, there's The Body, a 2001 film staring Antonio Banderas.[2] Here's the plot summary for that film:

An ancient skeleton has been discovered in Jerusalem in a rich man's tomb. Colouration of the wrist and leg bones indicates the cause of death was crucifiction. other signs, include a gold coin bearing the marks of Pontius Pilate and faint markings around the skull, lead authorities to suspect that these could be the bones of Christ. Politicians, clerics, religious extremists and those using terror as a means to an end, find their beliefs and identities test while risking their lives to unearth the truth.

Sound familiar? Then there's the book The Body was based on, a novel by Richard Sapir of the same title, which tells roughly the same story.[3] And then, of course, there's the Da Vinci Code, a book (now made into a movie) that has been debunked so many times there's really no point to revisiting the issue.[4][5][6][7][8]

The point is that this particular act has been done before, and by far more talented and convincing showmen than James Cameron. The fact that he's getting into the act now, and using such well-worn themes from older productions, indicates a startling lack of originality and naked monetary greed. Of course, Cameron isn't alone in this matter. He's partnered with "archeologist" Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino who have a new book out, The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History.[9] Who are these people, you ask? Well, Mr. Jacobovici is a Canadian filmmaker who has a lot of experience with Bible-themed documentaries. He likes to pass himself off as an archeologist, but as his own website makes clear, he has absolutely no training in archeology.[10] By contrast, Charles Pelligrino is a scientist, of a sort. He holds a Ph.D. in paleobiology from the University of Wellington in New Zealand. He's one of those showmen academics who make a living doing everything but serious academic work. His credits include working as a writer for Star Trek: Next Generation, several science fiction novels, a stint at the History Channel, a number of books about the lost city of Atlantis, and other headline-grabbing projects.[11][12] Like Jacobovici, he is not an archeologist, or a historian, or an expert in biblical scholarship of any kind, but that doesn't stop him from playing the "serious" academic on TV or in the movies.

UPDATE: If anyone questions whether or not Jame Cameron is borrowing from other people's movies and books, here's a link to another book, "A Skeleton in God's Closet," by Paul Maier.[13]

UPDATE # 2: "'It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever,' Bar Ilan University professor Amos Kloner, who researched the tomb for the Israeli periodical Atiqot in 1996, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Friday."[14]

UPDATE # 3:

The documentary speculates that the James ossuary was stolen shortly after the tomb was found. The archaeologists examining the tomb 26 years ago found 10 ossuaries, but only nine are in storage at the IAA. In The Lost Tomb, it is alleged that the James ossuary is that missing box.

But there is one wrinkle that is not examined in the documentary, one that emerged in a Jerusalem courtroom just weeks ago at the fraud trial of James ossuary owner Oded Golan, charged with forging part of the inscription on the box.

Former FBI agent Gerald Richard testified that a photo of the James ossuary, showing it in Golan's home, was taken in the 1970s, based on tests done by the FBI photo lab.

Jacobovici concedes in an interview that if the ossuary was photographed in the 1970s, it could not then have been found in a tomb in 1980. But while he does not address the conundrum in the documentary, he said in an interview that it's possible Golan's photo was printed on old paper in the1980s. [15]

[1] http://time-blog.com/middle_east/
[2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0201485/plotsummary
[3] http://www.amazon.com/Body-Richard-Sapir/dp/0523422490/sr=1-1/qid=117235...
[4] http://www.debunkingdavinci.com/
[5] http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/zdavinci.htm
[6] http://www.beliefnet.com/story/145/story_14506_1.html
[7] http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_category/40/Debunking_the_Da...
[8] http://www.truthnet.org/Christianity/cults/davincicode/13Answeringthedav...
[9]
http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/12/05/cameron-and-jacobovici-pro...
[10] http://www.simchaj.ca/
[11] http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/14944/Charles_Pellegrino/index.aspx
[12] http://www.charlespellegrino.com/
[13] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0840734247/interactiveda163-20
[14] http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/article/185534
[15] http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/article/185534