Christian History Home > 2003 > Finding God in a Box
Finding God in a Box
Have archaeological discoveries like the James ossuary served or obscured the quest to verify the Bible?
Steven Gertz | posted 8/08/2008 12:33PM
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Other incidental evidence could be mentioned. In the mid-1980's, Galilee experienced a severe drought, and the Sea of Galilee's water level dropped. In January 1986 two members of Kibbutz Ginnosar discovered a boat buried in the mud, and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists built a dike to keep out the water. After replacing the rotted wood with plaster, they discovered using carbon-14 dating that the boat dated from the time of Jesus. The so-called "Jesus Boat" could certainly have held thirteen people—namely, Jesus and his disciples.
In Capernaum, a few miles away from the "Jesus Boat," stand the ruins of an octagonal building dating to the 400s A.D. In 1906, Franciscan archaeologists discovered the structure. On the plaster of one room, they found Christian invocations in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Syriac, some as early as the second century A.D. Because of the building's lack of domestic artifacts, evidence of repeated replastering, special octagonal shape, and location in the hometown of the apostle Peter, the Franciscans concluded that this was Peter's house, which had been refashioned into a church.
As impressive as these findings may be, Christians should recognize that archaeology doesn't "prove" essentials of Christian faith, such as Jesus' resurrection. But they do give us confidence our holy book doesn't exist in a historical vacuum—and that the biblical writers knew what they were talking about.
"For detailed information relating to these finds, consult John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed's Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts (Harper San Francisco, 2001).
Steven Gertz is editorial coordinator for Christian History magazine.
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