A comment has been added to our post “Fair Representation” of yet another participant in the Jerusalem Tomb Symposium who wants to be fairly represented by speaking for himself. (Prof. McDonald earlier signed the Duke University Statement)

“I agree with the comments of Eric Meyers and most others who attended and participated in the meetings in Jerusalem. There was an array of excellent contributions that enlightened all of us on the forensic, geological, archaeological, biblical and DNA evidence related to Jewish burial traditions and the particulars of the Talpiot Tomb. Like others attending, I felt that the evidence presented at the conference could in no way be considered supportive of the film produced earlier by Simcha Jacobovici. In fact, had I been him, I would have been embarrassed at the results that challenged his film overwhelmingly. How he could say at the end of the proceedings that he felt “vindicated” is beyond me and most of those I talked to after the conference was over. Many of us thought that the news media high jacked the logical conclusion of the conference and missed the obvious point that there was no way that the anyone could demonstrate that the Talpiot Tomb was the place where Jesus was buried (secondarily after his body decomposed) or that there was evidence that he was married to Mary and that they sired a son, or even that it was the family tomb of Jesus (which logically would have been in Nazareth, not Jerusalem). There was no evidence at the conference to prove any of those postulations or theories.

Thanks for letting me make this statement.

–Lee Martin McDonald”

Other Symposium participants may add their own comments as they stand up to speak for themselves. These will be bound into a single publication in the near future.