Finding Jesus– Episode Four (on James)

Last updated on: March 23, 2015 at 6:43 am by Ben Witherington

Finding Jesus– Episode Four (on James) 2015-03-23T06:43:30-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This show just keeps getting better, and if you missed the episode last night, you missed the best episode in this six part series. Go to CNN, type Finding Jesus into the search box, and find last night’s episode on James the brother of Jesus. Once again one has a variety of scholarly opinion, but in this episode we get to dip into the shady world of forgery and coping of antiquities. Copying, and labeling something a copy of say, a first century ossuary, is legal. Making replicas and passing them off as originals is forgery, and of course usually this is done for profit. Was Oded Golan just a copier, or rather a maker of forged items for fun and profit?

One of the good things about the episode last night is that it makes clear that after a ten year trial and mountains of evidence and witnesses, there was no conviction of Golan when it comes to the charges of illegally obtaining the ossuary, nor was the inscription on the box proved to be inauthentic or a later addition. Furthermore, the judge believed the evidence that Golan obtained the ossuary legally back in the 70s before the law changed, otherwise the ossuary would not have been returned to him. Notably absent, and rightly so, was the nonsense about the James ossuary coming out of the Talpiot tomb (which by the way had Hellenistic symbols on it, not Christian ones).

It was a bit disappointing that no one chimed in and dealt with the more recent reports on the patina which have appeared in Biblical Archaeology Review, namely that it was genuine throughout the inscription, despite Prof. Rowlston, nor was there any mention that under oath Yuval Goren admitted there was genuine patina in the word Jesus on the James ossuary, which was a crucial bit of evidence, but then you can’t have everything in one 42 minute show.

Perhaps at least the show will revive interest in this box, which I am still convinced on the basis of the scientific testing of the patina, and on the basis of the epigraphic analysis by Ada Yardeni and Andre Lemaire is genuine. David Gibson again did a nice job of moderating the discussion, but in the end this episode, through the voice of Gibson ends on a note of studied agnosticism. I think this is unfair to the evidence we have. There is no solid evidence that the last third of the inscription isn’t original. Indeed, there is even ancient patina in the cracks of that part of the inscription, cracks which were created by the transporting of the ossuary to Toronto.

The show did well to highlight the importance of James in the early church, and I was especially pleased with the analysis of the Acts 15 council, where the conclusion was that basically James agreed with Paul as to the basis for Gentiles to become followers of Jesus. They did not need to first become Jews. A bit more could have been said about the decree in Acts 15, namely that the four items in the decree refer to four things that went on in pagan temples, and so James is asking Gentiles henceforth to stay away from pagan temple meals because of their pagan religious associations, just as Paul does in 1 Cor. 8-10, but as I already said, you can’t have it all in one show. This one was the highlight of the series thus far.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 23, 2015

Learning How to Think Biblically-- Part Two

Next Post

March 24, 2015 Learning How to Think Biblically--- Part Three

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz