ETS 2003, Atlanta, Georgia
Excavating Jesus or Inventing a Jesus?
19
more of the gap between the immediate settings of the original readers and the reconstruc-
tions necessary by the modern interpreter.
The difference here is that the tools of the archaeologist are not being used to develop
an understanding of the text of Scripture, based on the Scripture itself; but rather, an under-
standing of the text of Scripture, determined almost entirely apart from Scripture itself. This
would be like trying to, some millennia in the future, excavating several baseball stadiums
and trying to determine all of what went on in that venue and their relationship to each other
while all the time ignoring an extant copy of the rules of baseball.
Any exegetical methodology that would conclude demon possession is a socially ac-
cepted way to deal with tension,
74
and interprets the exorcisms of Jesus as threatening a
social order in which demon possession was an escape valve
75
is clearly disconnected from
the centrality of the text itself.
The Jesus that such methodologies excavate is not the real Jesus as presented in
Scripture but rather an invention by men who have become futile
76
in their speculations
(Rom 1:21; Eph 4:17-18). The hollow warning of the editors of The Five Gospels is certain-
ly applicable here, the last temptation is to create Jesus in our own image, to marshal the
facts to support preconceived convictions.
77
While their spadework in the backgrounds surrounding culture and life of the Biblical
eras will undoubtedly continue to yield valuable insights and information that can be utilized
74
Santiago Guijarro, The Politics of Exorcism, in The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels. Wolfgang
Stegemann, Bruce J. Malina and Gerd Theissen, (ed`s). (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2002): 165
75
Ibid., p. 172.
76
emataiwqhsan from mataio/w render futile, worthless; to be given over to worthlessness (see BAGD, p.
495), this word was used as invent a vision of their own in the LXX Jer 23:16 (see Liddell and Scott 9
th
Edi-
tion, p. 1084). Commenting on this phrase in Rom 1:21 Moo states, It is in the reasonings of people that this
futility has taken place, showing that, whatever their initial knowledge of God might be, their natural capacity to
reason about God is quickly and permanently harmed. (Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT.
[Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdman`s Publishing, 1996]: 107).
77
Funk, Five Gospels, p. 5.