Editorial, CNBC Indonesia
Tech
Monday, 18/12/2023 06:50 WIB
Photo: Negef Desert in Israel. (Doc. Pixabay)
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – There are many different scientific opinions about the figure of Jesus Christ. Various studies have been carried out by experts from all over the world to look for historical evidence.
In a 2015 survey by the Church of England, 22 percent of British adults did not believe Jesus was a real, factual figure. Archaeologists are also trying to answer these differences.
Professor of library science at Purdue University and author of the article Biblical Archeology Review, Lawrence Mykytiuk has a firm opinion that there is no physical or archaeological evidence for the existence of Jesus.
“There is nothing conclusive, nor do I hope there will be,” he was quoted as saying The History, Thursday (14/12/2023).
Meanwhile, Bart D. Ehrman, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, said almost the same thing. There are no archaeological records of witnesses from the same period as Jesus.
However, the absence of archaeological evidence does not mean that the figure does not exist. It is possible that in that era the life of Jesus Christ did not leave any archaeological records.
“The lack of evidence does not mean that a person did not exist at that time. It means that he, like 99.99 percent of the rest of the world’s population at that time, did not provide any remains in the archaeological record,” explained Ehrman.
The clearest account of Jesus is revealed in the 20-volume history of the Jewish people written by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian. The book was written in 93 AD.
Josephus is thought to have been born after Jesus’ crucifixion around 37 AD. He was a nobleman and military leader, and had connections in Palestine.
He was also commander in Galilee during the first Jewish Revolt against Rome in 66-70 AD. However, Josephus is said to have not been a follower of Jesus.
“He was there when the church was first established, so he knew people who saw and heard about Jesus,” said Mykytiuk.
Questions of authenticity continue to surround relics directly associated with Jesus, such as the crown of thorns said to have been worn at the crucifixion, (one example of which is kept inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris), and the Shroud of Turin, a shroud said to be decorated with a face. Jesus.
However, archaeologists have been able to find some evidence that strengthens the truth of the stories told in the Bible.
Although some people debate the existence of ancient Nazareth, the childhood town of Jesus in the Bible, archaeologists have discovered a house with a courtyard carved out of rock, along with a tomb and a pool.
They also found physical evidence of Roman crucifixion as depicted in the New Testament.
According to that article quoted by CNN Indonesia, The most detailed accounts of Jesus’ life and death come from the four Gospels and other New Testament writings.
“All of these books were written by Christians and clearly have bias in what they report, and must be evaluated very critically for historically reliable information,” Ehrman said. “But their main claim about Jesus as a historical figure – a Jew, with followers, who was executed on the orders of the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, during the reign of Emperor Tiberius – is supported by later sources with a completely different bias. “
Another account of Jesus appears in the Annals of Imperial Rome, a history of the first century of the Roman Empire written around 116 AD by the Roman senator and historian Tacitus.
In his account of the burning of Rome in AD 64, Tacitus reveals that Emperor Nero wrongly blamed “the people commonly called Christians, who were hated for their greatness.”
“Christus, the name of the founder, was executed by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea during the reign of Tiberius.”
Ehrman said that, as a Roman historian, Tacitus had no Christian bias in his discussion of Nero’s persecution of Christians.
According to Myktiuk, when Tacitus wrote history, if he considered the information not completely reliable, he usually wrote some indication of that for his readers. But he guaranteed the historical value of the piece.
“There is no indication of such potential error in the passage that mentions Christus,” he said.
Shortly before Tacitus wrote his account of Jesus, the Roman governor Pliny the Younger wrote to Emperor Trajan that the early Christians “sung songs of praise to Christ as to a god.”
Some scholars also believe that the Roman historian Suetonius referred to Jesus by noting that Emperor Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome who “constantly wreaked havoc at the instigation of Chrestus.”
Ehrman says that this collection of excerpts from non-Christian sources may not provide much information about Jesus’ life.
While the arrival of Christianity in Arabia was known through literary sources written by outsiders, such as the famous Bible expert and translator St. Jerome, recent discoveries show evidence of Christianity from pre-Islamic Arabia itself.
Vast patches of desert east of the Jordan River reveal thousands of ancient inscriptions, some of which depict crosses and use Christian terms.
Ahmad Al-Jallad, professor of Arabic at Ohio State University, in his Biblical Archeology Review presents interesting results from his 2019 epigraphic mission at Wadi al-Khudari in northeastern Jordan.
Collect Bliblical Archaeologyhis research produced hundreds of ancient inscriptions, recorded by nomads who explored this region almost two thousand years ago.
Traces of Christianity in Arabia
The location of the discovery and distribution of these inscriptions shows the routes and temporary locations that Arab tribes used when hunting wild animals and herding their cattle and camels.
Each of these inscriptions is a valuable source of historical and cultural information, but one of them is truly extraordinary, as it documents the early penetration of Christianity in Arabia.
Possibly dating from the fourth century, this inscription mentions the name Jesus – with the same name as the name Isa in the Koran.
Al-Jallad tells the story of this discovery and provides an in-depth analysis of the unique inscription. He first introduces Harra, the black basalt desert in northeastern Jordan where the inscription was discovered.
“The tribes who lived in this marginal environment left behind extensive archaeological remains, ranging from the Neolithic to modern times. These include burial installations, animal enclosures and campsites. However, perhaps the most remarkable witness to the region’s past is epigraphic records, including inscriptions and rock art,” said Al-Jallad.
“Writing became known to the nomads of North Arabia as early as the first millennium BC. By the turn of the Common Era, the nomads of Harra had mastered writing. They carved tens of thousands of stone inscriptions in their local language, an early dialect of Arabic, using the consonant alphabet original, which modern scholars call Safaitic,” he continued.
Perhaps the earliest witness to Christianity in Arabia, the Jesus inscription from Wadi al-Khudari is a memorial inscription, meaning that it commemorates a deceased person.
This inscription consists of three parts: First, this inscription gives the name and genealogy of the maker of the inscription (Wahb-El).
Then, adding a reminder of his deceased uncle, and finally ending with a unique religious prayer – Isa, which corresponds to the name given to Jesus in the Koran: “O Jesus, help him against those who deny you.”
There is no doubt, he said, that the author, or at least his uncle, was a Christian.
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2023-12-17 23:50:00
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