Garden Tomb vs. Holy Sepulchre: The Quest for the REAL Tomb of Jesus

The vast majority of Christians recognize The Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the authentic tomb of Jesus. But starting in the mid-1800s, Protestant Christians started to argue that an alternate tomb, outside the walls of Jerusalem, was the REAL tomb of Jesus.

Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters.

[derstoffausdemderjoghurtis]

As it says on Rumi's Tombstone:
"When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men."

[brockmckelvey]

As someone raised protestant (Presbyterian), I can confirm that "vibes" are how we are taught to measure spirituality.

[jaredmuirhead]

I grew up mormon, and for a while our church-published set of scriptures included a photo of the garden tomb, with text heavily implying it was the real one. Fascinating to see a video about it years later with skeptical eyes.

[Persistence_run_]

Muhammad Ali? Ruler of Egypt? He is a man of many talents.

[samuellarreal]

It is weird how our religious upbringing forms our expectations of how divinity should look like. For me, someone who grew up catholic in Latin America, ornate walls, statues and stained-glass are just how churches should look like. The strip down nature of some evangelical churches have always given me a corporate America spiceless vibe

[tmdblya]

I grew up Baptist. In the mid-80s, my family took a “Holy Land” tour that featured a visit to this tomb site. It was a long time ago, but I recall it presented with “possibly” disclaimers. We also visited the Holy Supulchre, but it was implicitly dismissed as “the Catholic” tomb.

[themanwhosleptin]

I get the sense that many modern Western Protestants (particularly evangelicals) have similar views today towards Christians in the Middle East. Middle Eastern Christians are mostly Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or some other liturgical church, and many western evangelicals do not consider them true Christians or view them in a patronizing way. For example, during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, American evangelicals were very vocal supporters of the invasion but did not consider much about how the war would affect Iraqi Christians. I have heard a story of an evangelical who did not care how the war would affect Iraqi Christians because Iraqi Christians are mostly Catholic. Similarly, today many American evangelicals support Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its bombardment of Gaza, but do not seem to care much about how Israel’s policies are affecting the dwindling Palestinian Christian population, most of whom are Catholic or Orthodox.

Edit: to add to this, this brings to mind Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism, or the shallow or patronizing views and assumptions many Westerners have towards people of the Orient, particularly the Middle East. Many American evangelicals have Orientalist views. They often see middle easterners, especially Muslims, as savages that must be “saved”.

Edit 2: in March 2024, Congressman Tim Walberg, a former ordained evangelical pastor, said that the US should not spend money on humanitarian aid for Gazans, but instead treated like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He does not seem to care about how that will affect the small Christian population in Gaza, which are mostly Orthodox or Catholic and already in the decline.

Moreover, almost a decade ago, Sen. Ted Cruz, who is Southern Baptist, was booed off stage when speaking to conference that was meant to raise awareness of Christian persecution in the Middle East. He was booed because he said that Israel is one of the greatest allies to Christians. Once again, this shows a disconnect many western Protestants have with middle eastern Christians.

Edit 3: Palestinian Christians tend to have negative feelings towards Israel. According to a 2020 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), 83% to 84% of Palestinian Christians say that they are worried about Israeli settlers’ attacks, a potential denial of their civil rights, or an Israeli expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands. Additionally, 73% are worried about the endless Israeli occupation and 67% are worried about an Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories. 62% of Palestinian Christians believe that Israel’s goal is to expel the Christians from their homeland. Findings also show that 3% have had their homes demolished by the Israeli army, 14% say the Israeli occupation forces have confiscated their land, 17% have been exposed to army fire, 42% have to cross Israeli check points, 6% have been banned from travel, and 28% say they live near Israeli settlements (which in turn exacerbates all these threats).


Meanwhile, a 2022 Pew Research survey show that 86% of white American evangelicals polled said they felt warmly toward Israelis — more than any other Christian group. White evangelicals are also the religious group most likely to express a very or somewhat favorable view of the Israeli government (68%).


In short, there is a huge disconnect between Palestinian Christians who are generally critical of Israel and white American evangelicals are are generally supportive.

[gabriellawrence]

Thanks for this vid. I follow a channel about Israel that mostly caters to Brazilian evangelicals, and they presented this garden tomb thingy as the legit grave of Jesus. I was like: "dang, what about the well-known Church of the Holy Sepulcre?". Thanks for crearing all this up.

[hedgehog]

You can definitely see how this tomb appeals more to the protestant aesthetic than the Church of the Holy Selpuchre, like it goes with the entire idea that religious places should be humble and that worship should be focused on inner or communal experiences.

[Squirrelmind]

I know a story of another British soldier, stationed in the Holy Land right after the Second World War, who was less enamored of the place. He wrote to his family, “here I am in Bethlehem, where Christ was born; but I wish to Christ I was in Wigan, where I was born.”

[feywild]

I can understand the appeal of the Garden Tomb. It's unadorned and humble, which meshed very nicely with the type of Christianity I was raised with. I can see my white, Midwestern grandma being more familiar with the imagery of the Garden Tomb over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

[bw]

I just wanted to say whenever you put out a video I have to text my mom to let her know because she refuses to make a YouTube account but she loves you so much 😂

[zakattack]

Omg, the tour guide I went with in Israel/Palestine took us to this place. I was so disappointed with my experience. Just a little garden with a hole in a cliff, and a gift shop. Though there was a cool ancient wine press in the grounds from Classical Antiquity. Probably just a family grave from then. I guess the skull-looking cliff is kind of cool. The guide within the grounds said that it was a popular place for public executions.

[polyglot]

As a young Catholic, I always thought it was strange my Protestant friends would visit the garden tomb when they went to Israel.

[bretfisher]

I'm constantly chagrined by the endless commercialization of the Faith. Even worse is the aggressive politicization of it.
Well. It's gone on since the beginning, and will no doubt never end.
I appreciate your soundminded and rational and dignified presentation here, Sir.

[raphaelledesma]

I have this odd feeling that if the Protestants were granted a space in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher they wouldn’t have bothered with the Garden Tomb. But then again, the Protestants of that era might have considered the idea of sharing space with “idolaters” to be unacceptable. Ecumenism is a pretty new movement in Christian history.

[jerricosagala]

Any "scholar" who asserts that the walls of 16th century Jerusalem and the wall of 1st century Jerusalem, are the same, should be ashamed to be called a "scholar". I am neither a scholar nor historian, but i possess some brain cells to know that areas like Jerusalem, besieged so many times, are very dynamic and changes over time.

[revertrevertz]

I think this summarizes very well Protestant theology: it would rather accommodate and change settings just to fit their personal beliefs over what communities have professed for millennia.

[ClarionMumbler]

You can tell that the channel is really gaining popularity. The comments section seems to get nuttier and nuttier with every video.

[OrdonWolf]

You know, the protestants' reaction to the holy sepulchre makes me wonder if there is a direct line between protestantism and new age spirituality. The rejection of the "gaudy" excess (adultered aesthetics) in favour of a more humble spirituality reminds me of new age's rejection of everything 'unnatural' (adultered substances) in favour of a return to natural balance.