A New and Important Contribution to the Talpiot “Jesus” Tomb Discussion
A comprehensive new paper titled “Probability, Statistics, and the Talpiot Tomb,” authored by Profs. Kevin Kilty and Mark Elliot, has just been posted on the Web. It is exceptionally clear in argument, thoroughly academic in approach and method, and in my view advances the discussion of the Talpiot tomb to a new level. I believe that this paper clears the air on any number of convoluted issues, but particularly the matter of whether or not the cluster of names found in the tomb are common and statistically insignificant, or rare and unique. The most common response to the possibility that the Jesus in the Talpiot tomb might be Jesus of Nazareth has been “the names in the tomb are common.” As Kilty and Elliot demonstrate, statistic probability can often be counter intuitive. I highly recommend a close reading of this challenging and ground-breaking paper.