Each year recently, it seems, as Easter approaches, we have been confronted with a new attempt to discredit the historical basis for the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

First it was “The Da Vinci Code” with its preposterous theory that Jesus had married Mary Magdalene, had a daughter and that this daughter, the subject of a vast conspiracy to keep her existence secret, had descendants living in modern France. Then it was the so-called Gospel of Judas, a mid-second century, anonymous Gnostic work, that was promoted in sensational headlines a year ago. Allegedly, Judas was the only disciple who understood Jesus’ teaching and what passes for Christianity is really a huge misunderstanding. This year, we get the claim that someone has discovered the presumptive tomb of Jesus and his family, including his mother, a son, a wife and others. Many have seen this as an attack on the Resurrection. What’s going on here?

This much is clear. What is going on here is not history or science. Every serious look at “The Da Vinci Code” has shown the theory to be rubbish. The author not only fails to get Christianity right, but he also grossly misrepresents Gnosticism as well. The Gospel of Judas, on the other hand, is at least an authentic ancient work. But its late date and comparison with other Gnostic works demonstrate that it is not a reliable source of historical information about Jesus of Nazareth. At best it provides insight into the thinking of a small pagan sect that had adopted Christian language and characters, but little of the actual thought or spirituality of the Christian community.

The Discovery Channel’s latest foray into this territory, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” was immediately rejected as unhistorical and without archeological basis. (Ironically, this new theory, unscientific as it may be, debunks “The Da Vinci Code.” If this were the tomb of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and their son, then the Da Vinci theory about Jesus and Mary having a daughter, not a son, and Mary’s flight to France is clearly false.) The man who oversaw the excavation of the tomb and published detailed findings on its contents, Amos Kloner, a Jewish archeologist with no incentive to defend Christianity, dismissed the recent claims as “impossible” and “nonsense.” Others have been stronger in dismissing the claim that this is Jesus’ tomb. At least one scholar said that it is nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to make money.

In each of these cases, we have proponents who claim to be acting in the name of science. For example, Dan Brown, author of “The Da Vinci Code,” often presents himself in interviews as a modern man of science. But the proponents of these theories actually ignore scientific and historical methods to set out pseudo-science and pseudo-history, which all too many Americans will accept because Americans are, unfortunately, woefully ignorant of both history and science, as well as theology and scripture.

And, while I do not bother to object when the Discovery Channel or the History Channel devotes a series to similar pseudo-science, e.g. UFOs, Nostradamus, Big Foot and conspiracy theories about the assassination of President Kennedy, it is offensive when they cynically use the same combination of sensational marketing and misrepresentation about something so important to so many Americans as the meaning and message of Jesus.

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But I do not actually think this is primarily about making money. That may surprise you. I think something more is at work here. I was tipped off to this larger agenda by an offhand comment by Ben Witherington II, a New Testament scholar, in a column for The Wall Street Journal. Witherington comments, “We are a Jesus-haunted culture….”

A significant number of Americans, having been raised in the Christian tradition, have found Christian values and Gospel teaching more than they care to live up to. But they can’t figure out how to dump them and live guilt-free unless they can find a way to discredit the teacher. They can become quite desperate to rationalize their unbelief. So they latch onto any half-baked foolishness if it gets them off the moral hook. They are conditioned to believe anything except Christianity on any evidence or even none at all.

My advice: accept Christianity or not, it’s your choice, but be honest enough to do it on firmer ground than pseudo-science and tortured history.

The Rev. Msgr. Michael J. Henchal is the religious leader for St. Bartholomew’s in Cape Elizabeth and St. Maximilian in Scarborough.


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