Interesting claims made in "Jesus, Man or Myth"...

[Windfish]

I recently ordered this book from Amazon. It is by the late Carsten Peter Thiede. He makes two interesting claims that I have not been able to verify. The first is about the Titulus Crucis.The Titulus Crucis is purportedly a fragment of the headboard that was attached to the Cross. I had never heard about this artifact until I read this book in which the author makes a starling claim: "research has shown that this is not a forgery." I Googled "Titulus Crucis," and the only result was a Wiki entry. In the entry, carbon dating done in 2002 showed that the artifact post-dates Christ by several hundred years. However, the book was written in 2005! So, either the author is ignorant, a liar, or is familiar with information that I don't have.

The second claim: an early Christian synagogue was unearthed in Jerusalem, and its walls are etched with the name of Jesus. It is now being used by orthodox Jews, but the writing, according to him, has been studied and photographed.

Now, these are two remarkable pieces of archeological evidence, but I have not been able to verify them.

Can any of you share some insight with me on this?

[Windfish]

Update: I got this e-mail response from from Mr. Mike Heseman, who was an assistant to the late Thiede.


'"Thiedes Book was published BEFORE the Carbon Dating, as was my book.
But I don't believe the C-14 results anyway. The Titulus was sealed in a lead box for 1100 years! Lead protects from any type of radiation - so how can the C14 atom decay?

Interestingly, according to C-14 it is excatly 1100 years younger than the palaeographic data suggest. Since nobody in the middle ages knew anything about palaeography, there is no way that it was faked around this time. And why should anyone? St. Helen brought it to Rome in 325 AD, it was publicly exposed in 1492 AD - nobody in the 11th/12th century would have had any reason to fake it, since it was not exposed anyway. Why faking and not showing?"

Thoughts?

[One Bad Pig]

C-14 atoms decay spontaneously, so it makes absolutely no difference that it was stored in a lead box.

[tatelyle]

C-14 atoms decay spontaneously, so it makes absolutely no difference that it was stored in a lead box.

Precisely. Never heard such a lame excuse.

There may be some evidence for the historical Jesus, but the Church will certainly not want you to see it. It is likely that Jesus was actually Jesus of Gamala, the leader of the Fourth Sect of Judaism in the first century. As he was the leader of rebel 'fishermen' this is quite likely.

However, this Jesus was the governor of Tiberias and owned a castle there. So you need to look for a castle just outside Tiberias. See the book 'King Jesus' for details.

.

[Kelp]

I don't mean to sound confrontational, but if you are this skeptical, then in what sense do you call yourself, 'Christian?" I only ask because the rules of this site state that only those who can agree with our statement of faith (link at the bottom of the page) may post as "Christian," others must use, "Christian(Other)."

[One Bad Pig]

Precisely. Never heard such a lame excuse.

There may be some evidence for the historical Jesus, but the Church will certainly not want you to see it. It is likely that Jesus was actually Jesus of Gamala, the leader of the Fourth Sect of Judaism in the first century. As he was the leader of rebel 'fishermen' this is quite likely.

However, this Jesus was the governor of Tiberias and owned a castle there. So you need to look for a castle just outside Tiberias. See the book 'King Jesus' for details.

.

You're basing your beliefs on a novel?

[Kelp]

Oh, wow. I had no idea lol.