Discovery Consistent With Bible, Editor Says

The editor of a conservative Catholic magazine said the discovery of a first-century stone box that could have held the bones of Jesus’ brother does not disprove church teaching on the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Researchers this week unveiled an ossuary, or stone box used to hold the bones of the dead, with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

Experts from the Biblical Archaeology Society believe that the chances are strong that the inscription refers to the Jesus of the Gospels.

Catholics teach that Jesus’ mother, Mary, remained a virgin after his birth. They also teach that biblical figures like James, whom the Bible refers to as a “brother” to Jesus, were actually cousins.

But even so, the discovery would not prove that Mary had other children and would not contradict the Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, said Deal Hudson, editor of Crisis magazine,

Hudson said a traditional teaching from Orthodox Christianity could help explain the mystery.

Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus’ father, Joseph, had been previously married, and that James was a product of that earlier marriage.

That teaching “might help to explain why [Joseph] was willing to take on a young, consecrated virgin as his bride,” Hudson wrote.

“This would also make sense in light of Joseph’s age. He apparently was much older than Mary and died before Jesus began his public ministry.”

Hudson’s views were shared by the Rev. Joseph Fitzmyer, a biblical expert at Catholic University, who was excited by the find but said the Bible itself is unclear about Jesus’ family relationships.

He cited the gospel of Luke, which says Jesus “was the son, or so it was thought, of Joseph.”