ETS 2003, Atlanta, Georgia
Excavating Jesus or Inventing a Jesus?
3
both curious why the authors list the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Codices as ex-
egetical discoveries, and whether the remaining items on the list can in any sense be classi-
fied as discoveries at all.
This paper will briefly examine the underlying methodology and presuppositions em-
ployed by the authors of this work within the larger construct of Social Science Criticism in
terms of their use of archaeological data, sociological models and their view of Scripture,
which both colors and dictates their interpretations and conclusions.
Part One:
Scripture in the Excavation of Jesus
In Excavating Jesus, the working construct of the author`s is based on what they refer to
as layering. That is, just as an archaeological site has occupational layers
8
, the gospel ac-
counts themselves are exegetically layered. That is the gospel accounts of the New Testa-
ment, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the culmination of building, re-building, and build-
ing yet again. As Charlesworth notes, some students tend to read the New Testament as if
Jesus` words and actions are recorded without alteration. This approach has been exposed as
improper by New Testament scholars for well over one hundred years.
9
The example put forth is the comparison of the modern town of Nazareth with the gospel
accounts. At Nazareth twenty centuries of history separate the former from the latter, and
7
The discovery of the Caiaphas Ossuary was in November 1990, a little more than a decade prior to the publi-
cation of Crossan and Reed`s work, all of the others listed are earlier, some significantly so.
8
The study and identification of layers, (more technically known as stratum) known as stratigraphy, is a
foundational tool in archaeology. For an excellent explanation of stratigraphy and its role in the archaeological
method, see John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1991),
particularly, 22-27.
9
James H. Charlesworth. Research on the Historical Jesus Today: Jesus and the Pseudepigrapha, The Dead
Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi Codices, Josephus and Archaeology. The Princeton Seminary Bulletin 6:2ns
(1985): 99.