The Sacred Bones by Michael Byrnes

[john3]

The Sacred Bones by Michael Byrnes

The DaVinci Code set the ball rolling by offering up the thesis that Jesus went to France with his family. Another author had Jesus penning a testament in which he rejected an established church and priests for his teachings. In The Sacred Bones, Michael Byrnes has his own angle on events two millennia ago. Allowing that it's a work of fiction, he still includes more than a few facts. The venues alternate between Jerusalem and Rome.

Byrnes points out that Judaism and Islam have several basic similarities: that both harken back to Abraham, the Jews stating that he had a son Isaac with his wife Sarah. To the Muslims he had a son Ishmael with her handmaiden Hagar, both children one and the same. Abraham, Moses and Jesus are accepted as Islamic prophets preceding Muhammad. Neither eats pork.

A fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam is that the New Testament has Jesus ascending to heaven after his crucifixion. In the Koran he went to heaven without a mark on him. In The Sacred Bones a tomb is uncovered containing ossuaries (coffins). The bones in one, with crucifixion spikes, is very likely that of Jesus. Which is contrary to the religious teachings that he ascended body and soul.

The author spells out the agonising in the Vatican, the mullahs and the Israeli authorities respectively at this disquieting revelation. Ancient and crusader authorities are quoted from at length. Experts are brought in from abroad to examine the remains and give their objective opinions. The controversy gets so heated that those involved resort to killing those whose beliefs they now abhor. Mobs are taking to the streets. Who has the rightful religious claim to Jerusalem?

Time was when authors of such books would have been burned at the stake for heresy. No longer. This is the Age of Doubt.