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The Tomb of James, Brother of Jesus, as Locus Memoriae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2004

Yaron Z. Eliav
Affiliation:
University of Michigan

Extract

La mémoire s'accroche à des lieux comme l'histoire à des événements.“Memory fastens upon sites, whereas history fastens upon events.” Pierre Nora, “Entre mémoire et histoire: La problématique des lieux,” in Les lieux de mémoire (ed. Pierre Nora; 3 vols.; Paris: Gallimard, 1984) 1.xxxix; published in English as Realms of Memory (trans. Lawrence D. Kritzman; 3 vols.; New York: Columbia University Press, 1996) 1.18.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Unless otherwise noted, all translations in this paper are mine. The current study does not directly refer to the recent debate regarding the authenticity of the ossuary associated with James, brother of Jesus, that has infuriated both the scholarly community and the general public in the last few months; see André Lemaire, “Burial Box of James the Brother of Jesus,” BAR 28, no. 6 (2002) 24–33, 70. Naturally, the publishers of this artifact, as well as those who have disputed their findings, have channeled their efforts toward evaluating its inscription, which asserts that the bones of James were entombed in that stone box. No one involved in the current controversy has paid any serious attention to the question of where James was buried, repeating only the traditional nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century opinions on this issue (see nn. 36 and 48, below). The present study (which originated years before the topic of James's death became so popular) aspires to fill this gap. Many thanks to Martha Himmelfarb, who read a few early versions of this article and provided invaluable comments.