Jesus Family Tomb In the News

Experts Dig for the Truth
05/23/2007

Three months after the Jesus tomb discovery was made public, archaeologists continue to dig for the truth surrounding a hotly contested debate: what historical value does the Bible have?

Spanning the two extreme ends of this argument are individuals who identify themselves as biblical minimalists – who believe that the Bible is a text made up of narrative that does not have a historical basis – and maximalists, who, like creationists, believe that the Bible is based on historical fact.

Most archaeologists, however, identify themselves as falling in between this spectrum of thought, a view shared by even archaeologists that use the Bible as a historical starting point for their excavations. This standpoint is one that is espoused, for example, by Amnon Ben-Tor, considered to be one of Israel’s leading archaeologists. “The two claims of the biblical minimalists, that ‘there is no way of knowing' and that the Bible represents an agenda, do not explain anything,” says Ben-Tor.

"Records were kept, which were studied by historians of their time, which often paralleled the biblical narrative,” continues Ben-Tor, who holds the chair of renowned Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The discussion of the role of the Bible in archaeology is ever more pertinent as more tombs connected to central biblical figures are uncovered. In addition to the discovery of the Jesus family tomb – a finding that was the basis for The Lost Tomb of Jesus documentary which drew over 4 million viewers – a tomb believed to be that of King Herod was recently discovered in Israel. Herod the Great is best known in Christian theology as the king who ordered the massacre of male newborns shortly after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Source: NewsMax

In The News Archive