Michael Ireland
The discovery of an inscription which seems to mention James, the brother of Jesus Christ, was announced at a news conference in Washington DC October 21, 2002. “It may not change the way most of us perceive the personalities of early Christianity, but a University of Wisconsin-Madison archaeologist calls it a major discovery, nonetheless,” said Gordon Govier, executive producer and host, The Book and the Spade radio program, in a copyrighted story in Christianity Today (www.christianitytoday.com). The inscription is in Aramaic, one of the languages of the New Testament period, and says, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” It is etched on the side of an ossuary, a box carved out of soft limestone, typically used as a bone container in the tombs of the first century AD Jews.
The news conference was convened by Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR), which reports on what it calls “an archaeological landmark” in its November-December issue. “This discovery fits in well with the increasing understanding of scholars that the Christian faith is deeply rooted in the Judaism in which Jesus and His early followers were participants,” says Professor Keith Schoville, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies and author of the textbook Biblical Archaeology in Focus. “This is the most recent indicator of what is evident already through a close reading of the New Testament documents, but an indicator often overlooked. It was in the aftermath of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in AD 70 that the rift, between Jews who believed Jesus was the promised Messiah and those who did not, widened into a seemingly irreparable chasm,” he added.
Limestone ossuary (bone box) with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” There can be little doubt that this was the ossuary for the remains of James, the brother of Jesus, mentioned in the New Testament (Mt 13:55, etc.). The inscription is remarkable in that it is the first time the name of Jesus, any of his family or early followers, has been found in an inscription from the first century.
BSpade 15:4 (Fall 2002) p. 118
BAR editor Hershel Shanks, in a phone interview, said the ossuary had been in the private collection of an Israeli citizen for about 15 years. “I asked the owner why he didn’t recognize it. He said, ‘I never thought that the Son of God could have a brother.’” Shanks became aware of its existence in June after the owner had contacted French epigrapher André Lemaire to evaluate it for him. “(The owner) got it from an Arab antiquities dealer,” he said. “He only paid a few hundred dollars for it. The antiquities dealer told him it was found in the section of Jerusalem called Silwan, just south of the Mt. of Olives. It’s an area that’s pockmarked with burial caves. Some people have their basements in ancient burial caves.”
The fact that the ossuary was not uncovered in an archaeological excavation raises questions about its authenticity. However experts consulted by Biblical Archaeology Review and Christianity Today seem satisfied that it really is a 2,000-year old artifact. Shanks asked for an analysis by the Geological Survey of Israel. Retired Wheaton College professor John McRay, the author of Archaeology and the New Testament, says their report was convincing. “Six different pieces of the patina of the stone were looked at through that laboratory,” he said. “It was verified by people who are not Christians, that the date on this is first century and there is no evidence of recent disturbances of the box.”
“I have no question it is an ancient artifact from the first century,” says Eric Meyers, the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University. “It appears to be the oldest extra-Biblical, non-literary mention of Jesus in the context of the nascent Christian church, and that’s pretty significant.” Hundreds of ossuaries have been found by archaeologists in recent years, including one that probably belonged to the high priest Caiaphas mentioned in the Gospels. Some have even been found inscribed with the name Yeshua (Jesus), or with the inscription “James the son of Joseph.”
But could this ossuary really belong to the brother of Jesus of Nazareth? “You have to remember that the three names mentioned are equivalent to Tom, Dick and Harry,” Meyers told me. “They’re everyday sort of names in the first century. What is most compelling to me is the use of ‘brother of.’ We don’t have the designation of siblings common in the epigraphy of the Second Temple or early Roman period. That’s kind of a clincher of me.” Meyers is an archaeologist who has excavated a number of sites in Israel. And even while marveling at this development, he cannot hide his repugnance at having to comment on a discovery of unknown provenance. “There was a whole tomb that was looted and his has been sold on the black market,” he charges. “We’re missing all of the rest of the stuff that could have filled in the blanks. That’s very sad and that’s why we don’t want to encourage archaeological looting and this sort of activity.” Schoville agrees. “It is unfortunate that the ossuary was wrested from an unknown location by a clandestine grave robber. One can only imagine the information now forever lost in the process.”
If there had been bones inside the ossuary, for instance, would it have been possible to trace the DNA of the family of Jesus? Ben Wirtherington, professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, believes that the bones stayed in the ossuary for a very short period of time. Noting the tradition that first century Christians fled Jerusalem shortly before it was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, Witherington thinks they took James’ remains with them. “It’s not likely they would take the ossuary with them, it’s too heavy,” he says. “They would probably have taken the bones because they wouldn’t have wanted his grave to have been desecrated by the Romans.” Wiherington is intrigued as much by the beautiful cursive Aramaic of the inscription as by what it says. Handwriting analysis also helps to date the ossuary to right around AD 62, the traditional date of James’ death. “It certainly supports the view that Aramaic was still very much a living language amongst early Jews, including some of the followers of Jesus,” he adds. He also sees implications for some Catholic doctrines in this discovery, especially traditions about the perpetual virginity of Mary. “The dominant Catholic tradition is that the brothers of Jesus are actually cousins because Mary didn’t have any more children, or they were step brothers in that they were Joseph’s sons by a previous marriage,” he said. “This inscription could call into question that doctrine.”
Most Protestant scholars believe James was a younger brother of Jesus, one of four mentioned in Matthew 13:55, not to be confused with the apostles, James the brother of John or James the son of Alphaeus. He doesn’t appear to have been a follower of Jesus while He was alive, but the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:7 mentions that Jesus appeared to James after His resurrection. He then became the leader of the first century church. James convened a church council to meet with the apostles Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15. He was also probably the author of the New Testament book that bears his name. The first century Jewish historian Josephus says that around AD 62 the high priest Ananus arranged for the death of “one James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ/Messiah.”
Shanks calls it “the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology.” It doesn’t provide as much information about ancient times as, say, the Dead Sea Scrolls. But it is the kind of icon that will attract and inspire believers who will flock to see it when it’s put on display. “We’re making arrangements right now to have it exhibited in North America,” he adds. “Next month there are 8,000 Biblical scholars meeting in Toronto at their annual meeting. We’d like it to be there.” After that, he is not sure what will happen with the ossuary.
Meanwhile, Keith Schoville says, “Don’t be surprised if another discovery of this nature is announced before long. Is it possible that similar finds will surface in the years ahead that will bring us closer to the events surrounding the birth of Christianity? he asks. “To think otherwise would be to miss the unexpected that so characterizes archaeological research. Who knows what lies hidden in burial caves or beneath the surface of the Holy Land? We have been surprised and elated again and again during my lifetime with unexpected discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Tel Dan ‘House of David’ inscription, and the burial cave and ossuary of the High Priest of Jesus’ time, Caiaphas.”
(Reprinted from Assist New Service, assistcomm@cs.com, October 21, 2002. For further information, see “Burial Box of James the Brother of Jesus,” Biblical Archaeology Review 28.6 [November/December 2002]: 24-33.)
BSpade 15:4 (Fall 2002) p. 119