Supposed ossuary of James, Jesus’ brother, from Time, at time.com.

The selling of relics is usually associated with the Catholic Church, and seen as a obsolete practice. Recent events have proved contrary to this belief. In March 2012, an Israeli antiques dealer was acquitted of charges for forging Biblical and early Jewish relics, including items said to be from the first temple, Solomon’s Temple. The controversy began in 2002, when the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto displayed a box with an Aramaic inscription claiming that the bones inside belonged to James, Jesus’ brother. Red flags were raised and an investigation began that prompted many museums to re-evaluate their own collections. The authenticity of many of the objects in question is still up for debate, and Biblical archaeologists appear divided.

For the whole story visit:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46737965/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T4SMpdnj1I0 and http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-cleared-of-forging-jesus-brothers-burial-box-relic-7567034.html

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.