Michael Ireland<\/b><\/p>\n
The discovery of an inscription which seems to mention James, the brother of Jesus Christ, was announced at a news conference in Washington DC October 21, 2002. \u201cIt may not change the way most of us perceive the personalities of early Christianity, but a University of Wisconsin-Madison archaeologist calls it a major discovery, nonetheless,\u201d said Gordon Govier, executive producer and host, The Book and the Spade<\/i> radio program, in a copyrighted story in Christianity Today<\/i> (www.christianitytoday.com). The inscription is in Aramaic, one of the languages of the New Testament period, and says, \u201cJames, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.\u201d It is etched on the side of an ossuary, a box carved out of soft limestone, typically used as a bone container in the tombs of the first century AD Jews.<\/p>\n
The news conference was convened by Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR)<\/i>, which reports on what it calls \u201can archaeological landmark\u201d in its November-December issue. \u201cThis discovery fits in well with the increasing understanding of scholars that the Christian faith is deeply rooted in the Judaism in which Jesus and His early followers were participants,\u201d says Professor Keith Schoville, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies and author of the textbook Biblical Archaeology in Focus<\/i>. \u201cThis is the most recent indicator of what is evident already through a close reading of the New Testament documents, but an indicator often overlooked. It was in the aftermath of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in AD 70 that the rift, between Jews who believed Jesus was the promised Messiah and those who did not, widened into a seemingly irreparable chasm,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Limestone ossuary (bone box) with the inscription \u201cJames, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.\u201d There can be little doubt that this was the ossuary for the remains of James, the brother of Jesus, mentioned in the New Testament (Mt 13:55, etc.). The inscription is remarkable in that it is the first time the name of Jesus, any of his family or early followers, has been found in an inscription from the first century.<\/b><\/p>\n
BSpade<\/i> 15:4 (Fall 2002) p. 118<\/p>\n
BAR<\/i> editor Hershel Shanks, in a phone interview, said the ossuary had been in the private collection of an Israeli citizen for about 15 years. \u201cI asked the owner why he didn\u2019t recognize it. He said, \u2018I never thought that the Son of God could have a brother.\u2019\u201d Shanks became aware of its existence in June after the owner had contacted French epigrapher Andr\u00e9 Lemaire to evaluate it for him. \u201c(The owner) got it from an Arab antiquities dealer,\u201d he said. \u201cHe only paid a few hundred dollars for it. The antiquities dealer told him it was found in the section of Jerusalem called Silwan, just south of the Mt. of Olives. It\u2019s an area that\u2019s pockmarked with burial caves. Some people have their basements in ancient burial caves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that the ossuary was not uncovered in an archaeological excavation raises questions about its authenticity. However experts consulted by Biblical Archaeology Review<\/i> and Christianity Today<\/i> seem satisfied that it really is a 2,000-year old artifact. Shanks asked for an analysis by the Geological Survey of Israel. Retired Wheaton College professor John McRay, the author of Archaeology and the New Testament<\/i>, says their report was convincing. \u201cSix different pieces of the patina of the stone were looked at through that laboratory,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was verified by people who are not Christians, that the date on this is first century and there is no evidence of recent disturbances of the box.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no question it is an ancient artifact from the first century,\u201d says Eric Meyers, the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University. \u201cIt appears to be the oldest extra-Biblical, non-literary mention of Jesus in the context of the nascent Christian church, and that\u2019s pretty significant.\u201d Hundreds of ossuaries have been found by archaeologists in recent years, including one that probably belonged to the high priest Caiaphas mentioned in the Gospels. Some have even been found inscribed with the name Yeshua (Jesus), or with the inscription \u201cJames the son of Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n
But could this ossuary really belong to the brother of Jesus of Nazareth? \u201cYou have to remember that the three names mentioned are equivalent to Tom, Dick and Harry,\u201d Meyers told me. \u201cThey\u2019re everyday sort of names in the first century. What is most compelling to me is the use of \u2018brother of.\u2019 We don\u2019t have the designation of siblings common in the epigraphy of the Second Temple or early Roman period. That\u2019s kind of a clincher of me.\u201d Meyers is an archaeologist who has excavated a number of sites in Israel. And even while marveling at this development, he cannot hide his repugnance at having to comment on a discovery of unknown provenance. \u201cThere was a whole tomb that was looted and his has been sold on the black market,\u201d he charges. \u201cWe\u2019re missing all of the rest of the stuff that could have filled in the blanks. That\u2019s very sad and that\u2019s why we don\u2019t want to encourage archaeological looting and this sort of activity.\u201d Schoville agrees. \u201cIt is unfortunate that the ossuary was wrested from an unknown location by a clandestine grave robber. One can only imagine the information now forever lost in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there had been bones inside the ossuary, for instance, would it have been possible to trace the DNA of the family of Jesus? Ben Wirtherington, professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, believes that the bones stayed in the ossuary for a very short period of time. Noting the tradition that first century Christians fled Jerusalem shortly before it was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, Witherington thinks they took James\u2019 remains with them. \u201cIt\u2019s not likely they would take the ossuary with them, it\u2019s too heavy,\u201d he says. \u201cThey would probably have taken the bones because they wouldn\u2019t have wanted his grave to have been desecrated by the Romans.\u201d Wiherington is intrigued as much by the beautiful cursive Aramaic of the inscription as by what it says. Handwriting analysis also helps to date the ossuary to right around AD 62, the traditional date of James\u2019 death. \u201cIt certainly supports the view that Aramaic was still very much a living language amongst early Jews, including some of the followers of Jesus,\u201d he adds. He also sees implications for some Catholic doctrines in this discovery, especially traditions about the perpetual virginity of Mary. \u201cThe dominant Catholic tradition is that the brothers of Jesus are actually cousins because Mary didn\u2019t have any more children, or they were step brothers in that they were Joseph\u2019s sons by a previous marriage,\u201d he said. \u201cThis inscription could call into question that doctrine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most Protestant scholars believe James was a younger brother of Jesus, one of four mentioned in Matthew 13:55, not to be confused with the apostles, James the brother of John or James the son of Alphaeus. He doesn\u2019t appear to have been a follower of Jesus while He was alive, but the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:7 mentions that Jesus appeared to James after His resurrection. He then became the leader of the first century church. James convened a church council to meet with the apostles Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15. He was also probably the author of the New Testament book that bears his name. The first century Jewish historian Josephus says that around AD 62 the high priest Ananus arranged for the death of \u201cone James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ\/Messiah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shanks calls it \u201cthe most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology.\u201d It doesn\u2019t provide as much information about ancient times as, say, the Dead Sea Scrolls. But it is the kind of icon that will attract and inspire believers who will flock to see it when it\u2019s put on display. \u201cWe\u2019re making arrangements right now to have it exhibited in North America,\u201d he adds. \u201cNext month there are 8,000 Biblical scholars meeting in Toronto at their annual meeting. We\u2019d like it to be there.\u201d After that, he is not sure what will happen with the ossuary.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Keith Schoville says, \u201cDon\u2019t be surprised if another discovery of this nature is announced before long. Is it possible that similar finds will surface in the years ahead that will bring us closer to the events surrounding the birth of Christianity? he asks. \u201cTo think otherwise would be to miss the unexpected that so characterizes archaeological research. Who knows what lies hidden in burial caves or beneath the surface of the Holy Land? We have been surprised and elated again and again during my lifetime with unexpected discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Tel Dan \u2018House of David\u2019 inscription, and the burial cave and ossuary of the High Priest of Jesus\u2019 time, Caiaphas.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Reprinted from Assist New Service, assistcomm@cs.com, October 21, 2002. For further information, see \u201cBurial Box of James the Brother of Jesus,\u201d Biblical Archaeology Review<\/i> 28.6 [November\/December 2002]: 24-33.)<\/p>\n
BSpade<\/i> 15:4 (Fall 2002) p. 119<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Michael Ireland The discovery of an inscription which seems to mention James, the brother of Jesus Christ, was announced at a news conference in Washington DC October 21, 2002. \u201cIt may not change the way most of us perceive the personalities of early Christianity, but a University of Wisconsin-Madison archaeologist calls it a major discovery, … Continue reading “JAMES
\nOSSUARY SURFACES IN JERUSALEM”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}