Past Efforts to Corroborate the Bible

Feb. 26, 2007 — In recent decades, historical analysis and scientific studies have corroborated certain events and individuals mentioned in the Bible.

For example, Aaron Brody, assistant professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion and director of California's Bade Museum, told Discovery News, "The first physical evidence for Pontius Pilate was found in 1961 on a Roman stone tablet."

Pontius Pilate was the governor of the Roman Judea Province from 26-36 A.D. The canonical Christian gospels state that he ordered the crucifixion of Jesus.

In 1990, the probable family tomb of Caiaphas — the Jewish high priest mentioned in the books of Matthew and John as interrogating Jesus — was excavated.

"That discovery has since largely been accepted by experts," Jodi Magness, associate department chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Discovery News.

The Vatican itself, with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI and under the direction of Vatican archaeologist Giorgio Filippi, has been excavating a sarcophagus at the St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica in Rome.

The sarcophagus, found buried under an altar, is believed to contain the remains of the apostle Paul. The stone coffin has been dated to at least 390 A.D., although the possible contents could date to an earlier period. Filippi has not ruled out future investigation of the interior.

Now inscription, statistical and DNA evidence suggest that a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb may have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

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