Well step aside the Jesus Ossuary, and that blasphemy of all blasphemies, the Brown fictional story The DaVinci Code. There is a new kid on the block and swirling around it is all the usual controversy. Is it real? Does it cast doubts on Christianity or support it? Only time will tell it seems.
Called the Gabriel Vision or Revelation, its existence has been known for some ten years. Some suggest it calls into question the uniqueness of the the claims of Jesus being God, others claim it changes the relationship between Judaism and Christianity.
Found in Jordon, the tablet is not apparently considered a forgery. It is in ink writing, not carved which is unique, but therein lies some of the difficulty. Fading has called some of what is written into question. Apparently several scholarly papers are due out soon on the tablet, which resided in a private home for many years before it’s importance was realized. The writing at this point is dated to the 1st Century B.C.E. presumably around the time of Jesus’ birth.
The text seems to refer to a Jewish leader who will die and be resurrected in three days. The writing is undeniably Jewish in origin. Some suggest that this idea was then picked up by Jesus and his followers and cite this writing as evidence of that. Others suggest that there are too many missing words to make any clear conclusion.
No doubt there will be much gnashing of teeth as people start to take sides. I am way to new to the entire subject frankly to have any opinion. I continue to believe that a rigorous examination of evidence using every available means of evaluation is the best way to secure the truth. I am not at all sure that there is any real cause for alarm in Christian circles except perhaps for those fundamentalists who do not like to accept that many biblical references have rather human explanations to them. Such folks continue to believe the earth was created in 6 days and is some 6,000 years plus old, along with all the attendant stories of world wide floods and so forth. The fact that geology, biology, astronomy and a host of other hard sciences offer compelling evidence to the contrary doesn’t shake their opinion, and whatever is the bottom line here is not likely to either if they feel threatened by those findings.
I’m including a Catholic take on this event done by Scott P. Richart. From my reading, it seems that Mr. Richart is somewhat of an apologist and that needs to be kept in mind. Some of his points are well taken. Others are less so. The main argument as I see it is that the concept of a suffering messiah resurrecting after three days is either unique to Christianity as reported by the Gospel writers or it was a known idea that was floating around the area at the time and picked up by the Jesus followers to explain his disappearance.
Mr. Richart’s arguments that this is irrelevant since Christianity is based on Jesus’ life and death being foretold is weak I would suggest. While Christians do make this claim, scholars for the most part do not agree that things like Daniel and Isaiah refer necessarily to Jesus as all. As I said, I don’t see at this time that that fact affects in any material way the actual life, death, and divinity claims made about Jesus. Mr. Richart’s too quick defense suggests that it does, and that brings into question his “objectivity” in the matter.
In any case, no doubt a good deal more will be coming along in the subject. If I get wind of the the actual papers supposedly coming out, I’ll pass it along. Most biblical journals don’t make their material free on the internet however, so I don’t have a lot of hope. No doubt a number of biblical scholars will be writing books on the subject. But it seems that the stage is set for another of those “controversies” wherein one side or both feels that their deeply held beliefs are at stake here. That never bodes well for scholarship alas.
For those who would like to read more follow the following links:
http://listinfo.blogspot.com/2008/07/gabriels-revelations-dead-sea-scroll-on.html
http://www.jesusdynasty.com/blog/2008/05/18/israel-knohl-article-on-gabriel-text-published/ The site author has his own published paper which can be accessed on this site.
The original paper by Israel Knohl is reprinted here: ftp://80.179.136.36/site/Israel_Knohl_on_Hazon_Gabriel.pdf
Filed under: Bible, Jesus, religion, theology | Tagged: Christianity, Gabriel Vision, Jesus, religion
Thinking nonstop since April 15, 1950, and expressing a good deal of it. My motto: Never let knowledge get in the way of an opinion. Come join in the conversation. 
I don’t really understand why people are so bent out of shape about this. If a person believes in the bodily resurrection and Jesus’ appearances to multitudes of disciples (as I do), finding this text will not negate that. If anything, it’s must another one of those mysterious foreshadowings / semi-prophecies that happen often. I think there is a reason why myths and religious stories so often mirror each other, and that is because they touch on some great truth.
If someone dismisses the bodily resurrection, etc., then their mind is already made up and at best this is just another piece of “evidence” for their idea that it was all made up anyway.
Either way, this doesn’t seem to be a smoking gun.
Interesting story, Sherry. I had not heard of this yet.
My thought exactly Ruth. I don’t see it as threatening but suggestive that indeed we are intuitively drawn to these things. And intuition is spirit to me. I’m having a laugh at Catholic Answers wherein a dude related about the latest archaeological finds and that they supported what many feminist biblical scholars had been saying, naming that women were vastly more powerful in the leadership than previously admitted. His question: How do we refute this? LOL Not is this true, anyone have any additional info on this? No. he wants it refuted because it messes with his perfect little fundamentalist world.
Jeannelle, Ditto for me to Jeannelle, I’m surprised that I haven’t read about this from some of my more religiously oriented sites. I’m really interested in what will come of it. Nothing is more intriguing to me than learning of this period in our faith history.
Grrr, it ate my comment.
“How do we refute this?”
This sums it all up in a nutshell . . . or maybe I should say nutcase.
LOL. yep Ruth, you got it. Doncha just hate when your comment is eaten? My are fairly frequently. Dial up is like that far worse than any I think. And my server was down all afternoon yesterday, so that sucked too.!