On Tue, 4 Jul 2000, Bryan R. Cross wrote:
> Among some of the most startling finds that have been uncovered in recent
> years are (1) the 1993 discovery by Avraham Biran of an Aramaic
> inscription from Tel Dan of a mid-ninth-century mention of the "House of
> David"; (2) the inscription from Aphrodisias in southwestern Turkey
> published in 1987, mentioning for the first time indirect evidence for
> Luke's references to "God-fearers"; (3) the first external evidence for
> Pontius Pilate, discovered at Caesarea in 1961, a two-by-three foot
> placard in Caesarea. [The inscription on the placard read: "Pontius
> Pilate, Prefect of Judea, has presented the Tiberium to the Cesareans"].;
> (4) a plaster text at Deir Alla in Jordan from the mid-eighth century,
> recording a vision of Balaam, son of Beor, apparently the same Balaam of
> Numbers 22--24; (5) the 1990 discovery of twelve ossuaries, or bone
> chests, including two bearing the name of "Joseph, son of Caiaphas,"
> probably the same high priest who tried Jesus; and (6) the 1995 location
> of Bethsaida on the northeastern shores of Galilee from where several of
> Jesus' disciples came. The list could go on and on.
>
>
I see a parallel between some of these archeological finds and the
plugging of some of the gaps used in God-of-the-gaps arguments.
Some Christian apologists try to use apparent gaps as arguments for
theism, and when an alleged gap is filled, it is widely viewed as a
disproof of theism rather than just as an invalid argument for it.
Critics of the Bible have sometimes claimed that David, Pilate, Caiaphas,
the Hittites, et al. didn't exist because they hadn't found nonbiblical
evidence for them. If they hadn't made such claims, the archeological
discoveries confirming their existence wouldn't have been hailed as being
such great victories for Christianity. After all, the fact that Caesar
Augustus's existence is known independently of the Bible is not considered
notable.
Thus I see these Bible critics as having engaged in the same sort of bad
strategy as the God-of-the-gaps advocates.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
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