A Word about Sources
A Word about Sources
To the chagrin of scholars, the Talpiot story has largely been aired in the popular press, from television and radio discussions, to news items, to perhaps hundreds of written publications, often found on the Internet. To be sure, many of these stories and news articles involved scholarly input, sometimes even doing an excellent job of finding the right specialists. Still, many other sources appeared from popular news outlets, as well as on personal and group Web sites. It is not surprising, therefore, that from the beginning this has been a popular story, especially since the original television and book versions were largely associated with the claims of two movie and film producers.
As a mainstream story, much of the information as well as many of the best quotations and critiques have appeared in popular venues. Accordingly, the sources that are employed in this book will be derived from both popular and scholarly areas. We will strive to cite recognized scholars whenever we can, even if the citations are found in popular sources.