Story

A lot of our stories are passed on from the ancients, borne of their legends, their aspirations and their dreams for the generations to come in their hope that their progeny be better humans than their immediate image. Sometimes the stories seem to catch on, sometimes they do not. Here is one that did catch on...

A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.