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June 29, 2009

Pope claims 1st C bone fragments in Paul’s tomb are him

Pope Benedict claims that bone fragments from the first-second century have been found in what the Roman Catholic Church has traditionally claimed is St. Paul’s tomb. And, says they must be "him."

First, while the coffin supposedly dates from at least 390 CE, we don't know how much further back it goes, and Benedict and Vatican archaelogists haven't offered to date it.

Second, even if it does go back to the 1st century CE, the first church at the site goes back no further than the oldest confirmed date for the coffin. So, we don't know if "whomever" the bones belong to was originally buried either in that coffin or that site, let alone that he was a Jew from SE Asia Minor and likely sufferer of either manic depression or temporal lobe epilepsy. (Contra John Shelby Spong, I do NOT think Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was closeted gay desires.)

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