While watching a show on the religious cable station this weekend, I came across a show purporting to rebut a recent (I guess) ABC show that I missed about the search for the “real Jesus”. This weekends show attempted to prove conclusively with the aid of 16 “leading biblical scholars and archaeologists” that Jesus in fact was raised fromn the dead, appeared to the deciples after crucifiction, etc.
One point that they attempted to refute was the alleged assertion in this ABC special that Jesus’s body was eaten by wild dogs.
Did anyone see the ABC show they’re referring to and have any info/cite on this theory. I’ve never heard it before and was wondering what evidence supports this.
I believe Jesus being eaten by dingoes is more of a Letterman monologue thing…
Letterman? Sounds a little inflammatory for him…Stern maybe.
Anyway, this rebuttal show specifically mentioned an ABC program and in a list of refuted topics mentioned the dog thing. Seems strange they would mention it if it weren’t covered in the original show.
Okay, now that I am feeling immense guilt from my momentary lapse into sarcasm, I will attempt to be helpful.
My quick nosing around on Google seems to point to a Bible scholar going by the name of John Dominic Crossan as key in the assertion that Jesus was devoured by dogs and wild crows.
Apparently, he wrote a book entitled “Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus,” back in 1995. General consensus among on-line reviewers is that it’s a load of hooey. In any case, seems to be one of those typical revisionist pot-boilers that comes out every decade or so.
Here’s a link to one of the few reviews I could find that was unbiased enough not to use words like “lynch” and “burn the heathen.”
Yeah, Crossan is definitely the guy you want.
He is quite prolific. Your local library undoubtedly has several of his titles.
Much of his (and the Jesus Seminar’s) stuff presents an interesting point of view IMO. Of course, as is common with zealots, at times he tends to express things in an extreme manner apparently aimed at inflaming the opposition.
Slight Hijack:
I believe there are records to show that in general, the bodies of those crucified were often left hanging, and in fact most victims on crosses (or X-shaped “crosses”) were situated much closer to the ground than most artists’ conceptions, thus allowing wild dogs to get to their bodies.
Don’t know about Jesus’ body, though.
Sir Rhosis
Yeah, following up what Sir said, part of the deal with
crucifixion was that the government wouldn’t give back
the deceased’s body, but leave it for whatever the elements
and nature had in store for it.
Having said that, the gospel seems to have an answer for
this. The guy Joseph, who put Jesus in the tomb, asked
Pilate specifically for the body. To me, it reads like a
special request. Given that Pilate hadn’t been big on
crudifying him anyway, it seems plausible that he’d have
made an exception for Jesus’ body.
Here’s the relevant passage from Mark (World English Bible,
quickest thing I could find):
"15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for the Kingdom of God, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.
15:44 Pilate marveled if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long.
15:45 When he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph."
Given that the Jews always wanted sacred things to be buried - including people’s bodies - they might have made an exception for the entire state of Israel. The Romans did cut the Jews a fair bit of slack due to their unique beliefs. They were exempt from having to give homage to Roman gods, for example, while pretty much every other vassel state did.