# The "Bone Box" of James: Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391 "2002-11-23T21:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TerryW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@TerryW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerryW)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/1 "2002-11-23T21:21:33Z")
I have to ask the Teeming Millions what they think of the “bone box” that had the inscription “Here lies James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” on it. If you want a cite, you obviously haven’t watched the news in the last week or two. Personally I saw it on the “Daily Show With Jon Stewart”. The inscription and authenticity of the box were found to be real… but the question is: how many James’ had a dad named Joseph and a brother named Jesus? Is this a sign? Is it a coincidence? What do the millions think? If you want my opinion, I think it’s the real-deal. It re-enforces my faith in Jesus, etc… please don’t hurt me! ---
**Author:** ![TerryW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@TerryW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerryW)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/2 "2002-11-23T21:24:27Z")
Oh geez… I forgot: the question was: Is it really the James from the Bible? I hope this is considered a real question, because I **do** want to know if its the real thing… I was hoping y’all could tell me. Maybe I’ll take it to the great debate… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/3 "2002-11-23T21:32:12Z")
Jame’s bone box was recently the topic of a long and detailed discussion over in Great Debates: [Is this reasonable evidence that Jesus lived?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=140636) ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/4 "2002-11-24T01:41:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TerryW \* > \*\*Personally I saw it on the “Daily Show With Jon Stewart”. \*\* Ah yes! The daily show! What a wonderful arena of journalistic thought! Incidently, I’ve read a few of your few posts in the SDMB, and I have to say: You smell of troll. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/5 "2002-11-24T04:09:39Z")
I’d love for it to be proven true, but we’ll probably never know for sure whether this James was the (half-)brother of _THE_ Jesus. (BTW, I tend to avoid Great Debates. If I wanted to see a bunch of people shout at each other, without ever resolving anything, I’d watch the Jerry Springer show :p) All of the evidence is circumstantial. On one hand, James, Joseph, and Jesus were all fairly common names. Someone estimated that there could be as many as thirty guys with that constellation of relatives. I have no idea how they came up with this number; they probably pulled it out of their ass. OTOH, it was very unusual for an ossuary to mention someone’s brother. Out of several hundred Jewish ossuaries that have been studied, only two (including this one) mention the guy’s brother. It could be that the Jesus mentioned was very well-known. Apparently, our boy Jim died around 67AD. The early Christian community was up and running by then, so if this _is_ Jesus Christ’s relative, it makes sense that they’d say so. Ultimately, it comes down to what you believe. As usual. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/6 "2002-11-24T05:06:50Z")
[computer voice]Insufficient information.[/computer voice] ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/7 "2002-11-24T07:25:52Z")
Wasn’t there some kind of announcement that at least part of the inscription had been added at a later date from the rest of it? ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/8 "2002-11-24T07:33:00Z")
Why is this in GQ? ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/9 "2002-11-24T08:18:46Z")
Insurance scam He’s had it 20-30 years. It gets planed to ship. THEN it gets publicity, and is found to be damaged in shipment. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/10 "2002-11-24T17:39:27Z")
[hijack]What are the REAL names on the box, not the English transliterations? What are the real Hebrew forebears of James, Joseph, and Jesus?[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/11 "2002-11-24T18:43:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*[hijack] What are the real Hebrew forebears of James, Joseph, and Jesus?[/hijack] \*\* Yakuv, Yusef, and Yeshuah? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bone-box-of-james-son-of-joseph-brother-of-jesus/138391/12 "2002-11-24T19:11:44Z")
This is more of a Great Debate than a General Question with a factual answer. Since the topic has been covered in GD recently, I’ll close this thread rather than move it. I direct further comment to the thread linked to by **Squink** above. **Meatros** , kindly keep accusations of trolling out of GQ. If you have concerns, it is best to e-mail the moderators with them. bibliophage moderator GQ