SAMUEL SMITH , CP REPORTER
December 27, 2015
New Testament scholar and author Robert Hutchinson writes in a new book that recent archaeological discoveries and biblical scholarship prove not only Jesus' existence but that biblical accounts of his life and death are more accurate than secular scholars have led people to believe.
While atheist and secular scholars have over the last century progressed the idea that there is no proof that Jesus existed or that He was and acted exactly how He was depicted in the New Testament, Hutchinson highlights in his recent book, Searching for Jesus, various archaeological finds and research from the past few years that disprove the theories progressed by secular "mythicists."
(Photo: Nelson Books)
The discoveries that Hutchinson mentions in his book, he says, disprove theories by scholars such as Bart Ehrman and Robert Schweitzer, who in the early 1900s theorized that Jesus was nothing more that an apocalyptic prophet.
"There was incredible discoveries that were being made in New Testament studies that were just revolutionary," Hutchinson, a scholar who has spent years in Israel studying the New Testament, told The Christian Post in an interview. "I found that nobody was talking about this in the media. They were still repeating theories about Jesus and the gospels that are a century old — the idea that Jesus was a deluded fanatic, an apocalyptic prophet who thought the world was going to end in his lifetime."
One of the main arguments furthered by secular scholars is that there is no proof that Jesus or anyone else mentioned in the New Testament actually existed. However, Hutchinson wrote that discoveries of ossuaires (burial boxes) in 1990 and in 2002 make that argument moot.
In 1990, construction workers uncovered the ossuary of the high priest Caiaphas. After analyzation, Hutchinson said that almost all archaeologists accept the Caiaphas ossuary as authentic.
It is also believed by some scholars that an ossuary discovered in 2002 is the burial box of James the Just, who many Christians believe is either the half-brother or cousin of Jesus.
Although some New Testament scholars, such as Ben Witherington and Hershel Shanks, believe the James ossuary is authentic, others are not completely sold on its authenticity.
However, Hutchinson argues that the discovery of the Caiaphas ossuary and the potential authenticity of the James ossuary is enough to quell the secular claim that there is no proof that anyone mentioned in the New Testament existed.
"They are discovering archaeological proof, if it is authentic, then it is the first archaeological proof for Jesus. That's just really, really exciting that they are coming up with the burial boxes of people mentioned in the New Testament," Hutchinson said.
"A lot of what the people say in the claim that Jesus doesn't exist is that there is no archaeological proof for any of these people," Hutchinson added. "They said the same thing about Pontius Pilate, that there is no archaeological proof of him but in 1961 they uncovered an inscription in Caesarea, which proved that Pilate existed." Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/searching-for-jesus-archaeological-discoveries-prove-jesus-existed-atheist-mythicist-interview-153317/#pjopxKZcH8j79MFT.99
