Archeological findings reveal insights into Judeo-Christian tradition

By Mallory Redinger

Published Sept. 13, 2008

Noticing her audience avoided the first three rows, Katharina Galor told the crowd at a lecture at MU on Thursday that she had no intention of crucifying anyone and insisted on apologizing from the beginning.

As a part of the Archeological Institute of America's lecture series, Galor, a professor in the department of Judaic studies at Brown University, gave a lecture titled, "Jesus: What is The Archeological Evidence?"

"I may disappoint you in the nature I approach this topic," Galor said. "Usually this topic gets a lot of tension when there is some concrete evidence for the existence of Jesus."

After centuries of searching for artifacts that link directly to Jesus, Galor said archeologists have found no direct evidence and have encountered many fabricated objects and claims that she said are "falsified by the media."

Studies have shown objects such as the ossuary linked to James, the brother of Jesus, contain fraudulent inscriptions, and yet were hyped in the media as plausibly true, she said.

The reconstruction of Jesus' face, which has appeared recently in the media, would be difficult to ascertain, Galor said. Facial features are determined by the way skin and muscles lie, not bone structure alone. She said studies like this are sensationalized finds.

Yet some archeological finds provide a better landscape in which to understand the Judeo-Christian tradition. Ancient historians like Josephus, though not always accurate, have provided some acute information about the world in which Christianity first emerged.

"We have a lot to help (archeologists) reconstruct what the Herodian cities look like," Galor said.

Galor showed intricate maps of ancient Jerusalem and different constructions such as temples based on information gathered from accounts from Josephus, archeological digs and contemporary Jewish scholars and writers.

Among many of the students and teachers there, Earl Lubensky, an MU graduate and retired Foreign Service officer, said this is what he expected the lecture to say.

"I know that there is no evidence whatsoever, except that which is in the Bible," Lubensky said. "No other evidence has ever been found. No archeological evidence, no documentary evidence, whether it's Qumran or Nagamati."

The previous view that Jewish people were not allowed in the city limits though, has been proven wrong as shown by inscriptions stating, "Gentiles not allowed beyond this point," within a gentile community, Galor said. Megan Thomsen, an MU graduate and AIA member, was surprised by this information.

"Hearing about the fact that within the last year they've been finding a lot for Jewish settlement right outside the city in post 70-80, is really cool because for so many years people have been saying 'No, no, no. They weren't allowed in,'" Thomsen said. "Archeology, almost accidentally, proved something wrong."

The reason AIA chose this topic was to facilitate such talks, both about misconceptions and about plausible findings, Thomsen said.

"We want to get topics that will speak to people," Thomsen said. "Speaking about Jesus covers so many bases. The arch aspect, we have many people coming in wanting to learn about the history. And then you get people, some of them wanting to hear about the controversy."