Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 03-16-2008, 02:30 PM

link

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Rene Salm - THE MYTH OF NAZARETH: THE INVENTED TOWN OF JESUS

René Salm’s meticulous, exhaustive, 8-year-long research on the archaeology of the town now called Nazareth shows irrefutably that “Nazareth” was not inhabited at the time Jesus and his family are supposed to have been living there. This puts Jesus of Nazareth in the same league as the Wizard of Oz. Salm’s new AAP book, The Myth of Nazareth, will be released at the conference and is likely to be the biggest challenge to Christianity in centuries. Coming shortly after Israeli archaeologist Aviram Oshri’s demonstration that Bethlehem in Judea also was uninhabited in New Testament times and Frank Zindler’s discovery that Capernaum was a literary invention, Salm’s book is going to be a collector’s item for Atheists and all who are interested in the long war between science and religion. Salm is an authority on the origins of Buddhism as well as Christianity, and is a recovered Catholic.

I don't know that claims like this do the cause of atheism any good, but all that aside, does anyone have more information about this?

Aviram Oshri believes that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Galilee (as opposed to Bethlehem of Judea.) He has a website here and his work is discussed on this religioustolerance page and his article from Archeology Magazine and WorldNetDaily. This hardly seems like a discovery that will destroy Christianity (as opposed to a certain tourist destination.)

Zindler does not discuss Capernaum in The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources (or via: amazon.co.uk), other than a reference at p. 33 to a Franciscan archeologist who "concealed awkward finds from his excavation at so-called Capernaum." I assume this refers to Zinder's article Where Jesus Never Walked

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The most common meaning given to the name Capernaum as it appears in the gospels is City of Nahum, although whether it refers to the prophet Nahum or some other Nahum is not agreed. Origen, like nearly everyone else up to the present, derived the second part of the name from the same root as that for the name Nahum, but arrived at 'place of consolation' as the meaning of Capernaum. It is important to note that Origen understood clearly that the name Capernaum -- as other sacred names -- had a symbolic meaning that befitted the stories in which it was embedded.

While most scholars are correct in tracing Capernaum to the root from which Nahum derives, I think they have all missed the crucial nuance in the root's meaning which caused the evangelists to choose it as the symbolic name of the place where their nascent cult's most important progress should occur. When we see how this Hebrew word was translated into Greek in several ancient versions of the Old Testament, we find that it could be translated as Paraclete, or Comforter. It is this possible link to the Paraclete, I believe, that reveals the symbolic intent of the New Testament writers when they created Capernaum. As 'the village of the Paraclete', Capernaum would focus the idea that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church, as well as the idea that the early church (as symbolized by the Jesus character) was fulfilling the role of intercessor or advocate.

This is an interesting theory, and may very well be correct, but is it not overstating the case to call it a "discovery" as if a fact had been discovered, rather than a theory constructed?

Rene Salm's website

chrisengland · 03-16-2008, 04:06 PM

I think I read an article on infidels by an atheist' who said that The New Testament alone is enough to establish th existence of Nazareth.
Chris

Toto · 03-16-2008, 04:13 PM

I think you are mistaking an argument that the gospels are sufficient evidence for the existence of a non-supernatural Jesus of Nazareth, since the existence of such a person is not an extraordinary event requiring extraordinary evidence.

chrisengland · 03-16-2008, 05:00 PM

I may be' but I think it was an article written by Jeffrey Lowder in wich he named some of the problems atheists have with The New Testament.
I think he mentioned Nazareth and said that The New Testament alone were enough evidence that it existed.
I may have got that wrong though.
Chris

Doug Shaver · 03-17-2008, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I don't know that claims like this do the cause of atheism any good

I don't see how they could. The existence of God has nothing to do with the existence of any towns or cities, during the first century or at any other time.

Of course, Christians who think that the only god that could possibly is the one they believe in might have a different view.

Minimalist · 03-17-2008, 08:33 AM

Rene Salm's website:

http://www.nazarethmyth.info/

There is a box at the top of the far column about what Salm calls "scandals." That may be a little overhyped. Plenty of religious people have been wrong about archaeological finds without it being called a "scandal."

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03-16-2008, 04:06 PM	#2
chrisengland Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol' England Posts: 2,678	I think I read an article on infidels by an atheist' who said that The New Testament alone is enough to establish th existence of Nazareth. Chris

03-16-2008, 04:13 PM	#3
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I think you are mistaking an argument that the gospels are sufficient evidence for the existence of a non-supernatural Jesus of Nazareth, since the existence of such a person is not an extraordinary event requiring extraordinary evidence.

03-16-2008, 05:00 PM	#4
chrisengland Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol' England Posts: 2,678	I may be' but I think it was an article written by Jeffrey Lowder in wich he named some of the problems atheists have with The New Testament. I think he mentioned Nazareth and said that The New Testament alone were enough evidence that it existed. I may have got that wrong though. Chris

03-17-2008, 08:33 AM	#6
Minimalist Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,808	Rene Salm's website: http://www.nazarethmyth.info/ There is a box at the top of the far column about what Salm calls "scandals." That may be a little overhyped. Plenty of religious people have been wrong about archaeological finds without it being called a "scandal."

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