Forgery In The Holy Land Ossuary Quotes

“Fake it ‘til you make it” sadly doesn’t always work, especially when what’s being faked is Jesus’s brother’s ossuary. “Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land” by Nina Burleigh was published in 2008, describes the journey and struggle of validating this ossuary. James Ossuary is the main focus of this book, and all of the experts and millionaires that want to have it in their collection. The story of the discovery, travel, and testing of the ossuary is told through the perspective of a reporter who is following the ossuary before, during, and after its fame. Burleigh tracks the journey of the ossuary through writing experts and millionaires who want to have the ossuary for their own personal collection. Eventually, the writing experts are the ones who find and gather the evidence to prove that the ossuary is a fake, but without the millionaires who pay and push experts to validate this object it never would have been invalidated. The millionaires and biblical relic enthusiasts were by far the most interesting people in this book, majority of them came from a poor homeless background and gained their status by one illegally obtained find. These millionaires continue to fuel their wealth with …show more content…
At first only pictures of the ossuary were brought to her, because of the low quality she requested that the real object to be brought in. Reluctantly, the ossuary was placed in her care. She discovered that the inscription stated, “James, the Brother of Jesus,” although the text was clear, the writing style didn’t fit the time. Miraculously, the writing expert was able to use certain style points such as loops, depth, and other lines to prove that the ossuary was a fake. Even though everything else about the ossuary lined up: where it was found, original date estimate, and language through the writing a few more tests the ossuary was proved to be a