[jluetjen]

Originally posted by Overpaid Slacker

This shows why pop science rarely delivers anything but entertainment. I enjoy Simcha Jacobovici in his incarnation as "The Naked Archeologist", but I don't pretend that the show is anything more than a superficial and oversimplified trek through history. The speculations made by the team working on the Talpiot tomb show how a series of assumptions can lead to a wild and likely incorrect conclusion.

I've watched a couple of "The Naked Archeologist" episodes and find them almost laughably sloppy in their scholarly rigor. Two examples...

1) A recent episode had Jacobovici visiting what he claimed to be the cave where John the Baptist apparently lived, preached and baptised people. Interesting. I had heard of this but never seen anything in detail. On that episode, Jacobovici shows up at the site and then shares with us that the Jewish Antiquities officials couldn't make and had to reschedule. He then promptly crawls under the fence passed the obvious "closed" sign and trespasses he way down to the site. When the door is locked, he convinces his (slightly smaller) camera man to climb over the gate and essentially break into the site. He then proceeds to "analyse" the site from outside the gate while the cameraman films from inside. What a hack!!!

2) Watching the video clips on the Newsweek site, Jacobovici admits on camera that he thought "Mary Magdaline" was a proper name, when even the slightest bit of research (or maybe opening up a Bible and actually reading the passages regarding her first-hand) would have revealed that her name was Mary and she was from Magdala, much like the carpenter who was executed on the cross was generally referred to as Jesus (the Greek version of Josua since the Gospels were generally written in Greek) of Nazareth or occasionally "Jesus, the son of Joseph". Aside from Pontious Pilate, I'm not sure if any of the other charactors in the Bible were referred to in the modern fashion with a given name, and a family name.

MAGDALENE [mag de LEE nih] (from Magdala) — the designation given to a woman named Mary, one of Jesus' most prominent Galilean female disciples, to distinguish her from the other Marys. The first appearance of Mary Magdalene in the gospels is in Luke 8:2, which mentions her among those who were ministering to Jesus. Mary Magdalene has sometimes mistakenly been described as a woman of bad character and loose morals, simply because Mark 16:9 states that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. Nor is there any reason to conclude that she was the same person as the sinful woman whom Simon the Pharisee treated with such disdain and contempt (Luke 7:36–50).
Mary Magdalene was among the "many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him" (Matt. 27:55). She was one of the women at Calvary who were "looking on from afar" (Mark 15:40) when Jesus died on the cross (also John 19:25). She was at Joseph’s tomb when the body of Jesus was wrapped in a fine linen cloth and a large stone was rolled against the door of the tomb (Matt. 27:61; Mark 15:47). And she was a witness of the risen Christ (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10; John 20:1). In fact, she was the first of any of Jesus' followers to see Him after His resurrection (Mark 16:9; John 20:11–18).
Apparently Mary is called "Magdalene" because she was a native or inhabitant of Magdala.
Youngblood, Ronald F., General Editor; F.F. Bruce and R.K. Harrison, Consulting Editors, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995.

Ma'ry Magdale'ne. Different explanations have been given of this name; but the most natural is that she came from the town of Magdala. She appears before us for the first time in Luke 8:2, among the women who "ministered unto him of their substance." All appear to have occupied a position of comparative wealth. With all the chief motive was that of gratitude for their deliverance from "“evil spirits and infirmities." Of Mary it is said specially that "seven devils went out of her," and the number indicates a possession of more than ordinary malignity. She was present during the closing hours of the agony on the cross. John 19:25. She remained by the cross till all was over, and waited till the body was taken down and placed in the garden sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathæa, Matt. 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55, when she, with Salome and Mary the mother of James, "bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint" the body. Mark 16:1. The next morning accordingly, in the earliest dawn, Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2, they came with Mary the mother of James to the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb and had found it empty, and had seen the "vision of angels." Matt. 28:5; Mark 16:5. To her first of all Jesus appeared after his resurrection. John 20:14, 15. Mary Magdalene has become the type of a class of repentant sinners; but there is no authority for identifying her with the "sinner" who anointed the feet of Jesus in Luke 7:36-50; neither is there any authority for the supposition that Mary Magdalene is the same as the sister of Lazarus. Neither of these theories has the slightest foundation in fact.
William Smith; revised and edited by F.N. and M.A. Peloubet, Smith’s Bible dictionary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997.

You'd think that if you were trying to prove or dis-prove a certain historical document, that you'd at least take the time to read it and research it a bit. If you're too lazy to read it, he could of at least consulted with someone who has -- for example John Dominic Crossan (hardly my favorite biblical historian BTW, but an exponentially better scholar then Jacobovici!).