So now we have yet another “discovery” in biblical archeology that’s supposed to shake the very foundations of Christianity… except I see no basis for such shaking. But then I’m not an archeologist or historian of Holy Land with a predilection for de-mythologizing everything about religion.
In this case we have a a stone tablet dating from the 1st century BC which makes mention of a messiah and resurrection. The tablet apparently predicts (and there is still some debate about this) that a Jewish messiah will be killed and then rise from the grave three days latter to defeat the Romans. So what’s the problem? That seems compatible with Christianity? Shouldn’t we expect such prophecies from the time before Christ?
From what I can understand from the article, as an admitted layman and non-expert on this topic, this is supposed to show that three-day resurrection was not a concept unique to Christianity but has its roots in Judaism. That may shake some Christians, but Catholics have been saying for quite some time that the Jewish faith is the root of Christian belief. Pope Benedict XVI wrote a book before he was elected pope on this topic called “Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, the Church, and the World”
“His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”
What we have are academics who don’t really understand the theology of Christianity making judgment upon it in order to bolster their own favored interpretations. The tablet, as they describe it, does not change the meaning of the Last Supper one whit because we know that Christ came for the redemption of all. What does Israel—as firstborn of the covenant—and all humanity need redemption from if not from sin?
But of course, how will they get the world’s major newspapers to publish headlines about their work if they don’t propose that Christianity is being debunked by their findings?
Photo credit: Callmetim via Flickr.com. Used with permission under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike license.
Image Credit
- stonetablet.jpg: Tim Reid/Flickr | CC BY NC SA 2.0
