Ancient Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection suggests that a recent discovery will upset the traditional view of the origins of Christianity.

In fact, as Mollie Hemingway shows at GetReligion, if anything it will do just the opposite. As a commenter there noted: “Wow. If this document is what some say it is, it’s a Christian apologist’s dream come true.”

Of course, the tablet may be a forgery. It surfaced from a private collection, with no archaeological context. Either way the Times got it wrong.

This sort of thing has happened before, but every time the story dissolves on serious analysis.