| Jesus is a liar, and the Bible is wrong |
I was asked about this "Nazareth myth" this morning, and being an Old Testament guy I wasn't sure of the answer. Apparently, according to some, Nazareth didn't exist in the time of Christ. If Nazareth didn't exist, well ... then Jesus is a liar and the Bible is wrong ... period. But, fortunately for us, that isn't the end of the story. The problem with this thinking is that it is an argument from silence. Do you know how many times people have tried to argue against the Bible from silence only for evidence to be found later? Quite a few ...
Again, not really knowing the answer, I turned to an online database and began to study out some peer reviewed articles on the matter. The first one I read demolished the entire book with one little statement: "No. 6 is the slightly everted rim and cup-shaped neck of a storage jar dating to the mid-first century BCE to mid-first century CE."1 ... So ... what happened to that "no evidence" idea?
I stumbled upon another article, which was actually a response to an article that Salm wrote. The opening line was, um, humorous: "Occasionally a layperson with little or no background in a field decides to evaluate a technical report."2 I know, I know ... not very funny, but this is how I feel when people come to me about giants, aliens, and Noah's ark after reading some technical paper somewhere. These authors go on to say that they must answer the criticism put forth by Salm, and these non-laypersons do just that. In fact, what they point out in their article is pretty much that Salm was mistaken (I would add that he was probably looking for something that didn't exist).
These authors work through the criticisms, debunking each one. One point that should be noted is (as I first mentioned) the existence of early Roman pottery at the site, which indicates an early Roman presence at the site - the time of Jesus. Sure, the great majority of the pottery was late Roman, but that is only because the site grew over time (including the addition of a large priestly family in the second century AD). The fact that the site grew says little to the fact that there was an earlier site, except that the earlier site was smaller. Actually ... that is quite important. Remember, nothing good comes from Nazareth - that tiny little village over there? (At this point I should note that I grew up in New Miami, OH ... and I was quite proud of our TWO stop lights. Unfortunately for me, nothing good has ever come out of New Miami either.) The smaller the village, the less we are going to find - thus, we find very little at Nazareth.
Without going into too much detail, let me jump to the end of the article I read: "Salm’s personal evaluation of the pottery, which he rehearses from his book The Nazareth Myth, reveals his lack of expertise in the area as well as his lack of serious research in the sources. By ignoring or dismissing solid ceramic, numismatic and literary evidence for Nazareth’s existence during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period, it would appear that the analysis which René Salm includes in his review, and his recent book must, in itself, be relegated to the realm of ‘myth’. By upholding the idea of a myth, Salm has created a myth himself."3 ... wow ... those are strong words.
As it turns out, Nazareth did in fact exist at the time of Christ. While it has taken some time to find the evidence for the site, many of us simply had faith that the evidence would one day turn up - as it did - and the lack of evidence in times past didn't really bother us as it did Salm. So what will he do with his book now? Will he retract it? I doubt it, but at least those of you who might run into the book can have some evidence to the contrary.
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YEHUDAH RAPUANO, "The Nazareth Village Farm Project Pottery (1997–2002): Amendment," Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 2008 Volume 26, p. 124.
STEPHEN J. PFANN AND YEHUDAH RAPUANO, "On the Nazareth Village Farm Report: A Reply to Salm," Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 2008 Volume 26, p. 105.
ibid., p. 108
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| Archaeological excavation of an ancient house in Nazareth - from http://www.bible-archaeology.info/nazareth.htm |
