×
Ingermanson, Randall

Discussion of: Statistical analysis of an archaeological find. (English) Zbl 1282.62259

Ann. Appl. Stat. 2, No. 1, 84-90 (2008).
Concerns [A. Feuerverger, ibid. 2, No. 1, 3–54 (2008; Zbl 1137.62092)].
Summary: We critique the analysis by A. Feuerverger of an archaeological find that has been alleged by some to be the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. We show that his analysis rests on six faulty assumptions that have been severely criticized by historians, archaeologists, and scholars in related disciplines. We summarize the results of an alternative computation using Bayes’ theorem that estimates a probability of less than 2% that the Talpiot tomb belongs to Jesus of Nazareth.

Cited in 1 Review
Cited in 1 Document

MSC:

62P25 Applications of statistics to social sciences
91F10 History, political science

Keywords:

Jesus of Nazareth; Talpiot tomb; Bayes’ theorem; statistical inference; distribution of names; onomasticon

Citations:

Zbl 1137.62092
PDF BibTeX XML Cite
\textit{R. Ingermanson}, Ann. Appl. Stat. 2, No. 1, 84--90 (2008; Zbl 1282.62259)
Full Text: DOI arXiv

References:

[1] Bauckham, R. (2007). Guest article on Chris Tilling’s blog on March 1, 2007. Available at, http://www.christilling.de/blog/2007/03/guest-post-by-richard-bauckham.html.
[2] Bovon, F. (2007). Article on the Society of Biblical Literature web site, posted March, 2007. Available at, http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=656.
[3] Fuchs, C. (2004). Democracy, literacy and names distribution in ancient Jerusalem-how many James/Jacob son of Joseph, brother of Jesus were there?, Polish J. Biblical Research 1-30.
[4] Ingermanson, R. (2008). Supplement to “Discussion of: Statistical analysis of an archeological find.” DOI:, 10.1214/08-AOAS99GSUPP.
[5] Jacobovici, S. and Pellegrino, C. (2007)., The Jesus Family Tomb . HarperOne, SanFrancisco.
[6] Magness, J. (2007). Article on the Society of Biblical Literature web site, posted March, 2007. Available at, http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=640.
[7] Pfann, S. (2007). Available at, http://www.uhl.ac/Lost_Tomb/HowDoYouSolveMaria/.
[8] Tabor, J. (2007). Article on the Society of Biblical Literature web site, posted March, 2007. Available at, http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=651.
This reference list is based on information provided by the publisher or from digital mathematics libraries. Its items are heuristically matched to zbMATH identifiers and may contain data conversion errors. It attempts to reflect the references listed in the original paper as accurately as possible without claiming the completeness or perfect precision of the matching.