The Resurrection File (51 page)

“Is the best ‘context' for understanding an ancient fragment always a complete fragment; one that is of superior quality in its written characters, and bears no evidence of missing pieces?”

“Yes, that is optimal.”

“Have you ever, in your career, been forced to withhold final conclusions about an ancient fragment because the context was incomplete? Such as poor quality of the written characters, or too much destruction by the natural elements, or the absence of too much of the adjacent writing?”

“Yes, quite often.”

“But you
did not
withhold your final conclusions
here.
You did not withhold your absolute confidence in the validity of Dr. Reichstad's opinions—even though at the time you didn't have 7QB, and certainly did not have the still-missing ‘X fragment'—and even though you and Dr. Reichstad knew that the other missing pieces that had been torn away might still be out there somewhere?”

“Yes, Dr. Reichstad and I felt we could still make absolute and final conclusions about 7QA.”

“Then let's evaluate why that is, Doctor.”

Now Will moved away from the podium slightly so he could stand directly in front of the witness.

“Is it a fact that you, and Dr. Reichstad, are both members of an organization called ‘Jesus Quest for the 21st Century'?”

“Yes, that's right. A very esteemed and forward-thinking group of New Testament and antiquities scholars.”

“About thirty-nine different scholars?”

“Yes, that sounds about right.”

“You are familiar with their writings?”

“Yes. I consider them my colleagues.”

“How many have ever written or published any professional article that expresses even the most theoretical belief in the possibility that Jesus of Nazareth may have been physically resurrected?”

“I have not memorized their writings.”

“I have them all right here, in several notebooks,” Will said. “Do you wish to have me go through them, one by one?”

Judge Kaye interrupted, “Oh pray no, Mr. Chambers, let's not do that.”

Then the judge turned toward Dr. Jorgenson and addressed the witness directly, leaning back in his large chair and scratching the top of his head as he spoke.

“Doctor, I notice in your credentials that you still do some university teaching. I trust that when your students ask you a question you give them a more direct answer than you are doing right now. Just answer the question. Do you know whether any of the members of this organization of which you are a member believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth?”

“Your Honor, we all, as members of this group of scholars, have pledged ourselves to absolute scientific integrity. How could we do that and still cling to the very medieval notion that a man three days dead in the grave suddenly gets up and walks out of his tomb?”

“I think you have answered the question,” Judge Kaye concluded, and he nodded to Will Chambers to continue.

“Are you employed by Dr. Reichstad's research center?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what the going salary rate is, in America, for experts in papyrology, with your experience and background?”

“I have a pretty good idea.”

“Are you being paid more than the average?”

“If I can speak frankly, my credentials are better than most scholars in my field. Therefore, I ought to be paid more.”

“Do you consider yourself three times as good as other scholars?”

“Oh, hardly.”

“Yet you get a salary from Dr. Reichstad that is three times the average for a scholar with your background and experience?”

Now Sherman was up with an impassioned objection. “This expert's salary has nothing to do with this case.”

“I agree, Mr. Chambers,” the judge said, “unless you lay some other foundation.”

Will turned to the witness.

“Were you expected to be here testifying for Dr. Reichstad as part of your employment?”

“You might say that.”

“Are you being paid a separate fee?”

“No.”

“It's just considered part of your salary?”

“Yes.”

“Is your yearly salary about $500,000?”

Sherman shrieked out his objection again.

“Overruled,” the judge barked out. “Now this is a different ballgame.”

“$500,000?”

“That's correct.”

“And you have stock options in the research center, which recently became a publicly traded corporation?”

“Yes. Yes. That's right. This is still America. Land of opportunity.”

“And your stock options are worth perhaps another $500,000?”

“Yes. I guess that is right.”

Will now walked back to the podium to collect his notes. Jorgenson relaxed a bit, thinking the questioning was over.

“Oh, one other matter. Just a technical point, I suppose.”

“Yes,” Jorgenson replied with a manufactured smile.

“Exactly how much would your stock be worth if Dr. Reichstad were to lose this case, and the jury were to find that he committed scientific malpractice—or even worse—scientific fraud? How much would your stock options be worth then?”

Sherman popped up again with an objection that the question asked for “pure speculation.”

The judge permitted the answer, “if the expert could venture an opinion.”

“I suppose the stock might go down.”

“Go down?” Will said with his voice rising. “Wouldn't it sink like the Titanic? Wouldn't it disintegrate like the exploding Hindenburg? Wouldn't your stock option be something akin to a very poorly forged copy of the Mona Lisa?”

“Is that a question, or merely an attempt at creativity, Mr. Chambers?” the judge asked. “I think it is the latter. So, rephrase it.”

“If Dr. Reichstad's opinions about 7QA are shown to be fraudulent, or recklessly unfounded, as Reverend MacCameron has written, then your stock options become worthless, is that correct?”

There was silence as Dr. Jorgenson glared back.

“That is probably so,” he replied, “but I am not too worried about that happening.”

“Because you did your job well today? You came here and supported your boss, Dr. Reichstad, who pays your salary?”

“Yes, I support Dr. Reichstad.”

“Because you came here and protected your stock options?”

“That's not why I came here.”

“Because you came here to support the Jesus Quest for the 21st Century in their agenda to disprove the physical resurrection of Jesus?”

“I support that position. I am not ashamed to declare that.”

“Does every person educated in biblical archaeology have the right to take a position, one way or the other, on the issue of whether the evidence supports the resurrection of Jesus?”

“Of course.”

“But you deny to my client, Reverend Angus MacCameron, that exact same right?”

There was a pause, and Jorgenson shifted a little in his chair. At first he parted his lips to answer, but nothing came out.

After a full thirty seconds of silence, Will turned and began walking back to his counsel table.

“That's all right, Dr. Jorgenson,” Will said in conclusion, “we'll let the jury answer that one.”

61

T
HE SECOND WITNESS CALLED BY SHERMAN
was Dr. Victor Beady. He was also an associate at Reichstad's research center. His testimony took up the afternoon.

Beady's evidence centered on his particular area of expertise—carbon-dating of ancient objects. He gave a convincing and impressive description of the concept of carbon-dating, both in general and in regard to the technique he had applied to date the 7QA and 7QB fragments as “definitely first century—and likely during the time period proximate to the death of Jesus, a religious figure who is reported to have lived in ancient Palestine.”

“Radiocarbon-dating,” as Beady referred to it, was based on the observation that the remains of organisms that were once alive (plants, animals, people) all contain C-14 (radiocarbon), which is absorbed into the tissues of organisms during their lifetimes. Because that element is both radioactive and unstable, he explained, and because it “decays away at a known rate,” then at the death of that organism, the radiocarbon decay begins—at an ever-declining rate. By measuring the amount of radiocarbon left in a sample and assuming the rate of decay as a given, he further explained, one can extrapolate to obtain the date when the original sample was still part of a living organism.

In this case, he continued, from a radiocarbon-dating standpoint, the two fragments must be “from approximately the years 30 to 90
C.E
.—‘Common Era'—a designation that has replaced the traditional but religiously offensive ‘
A.D
.'”

Then Beady left the realm of radiocarbon-dating and spoke on the basis of his credentials as a historian of antiquities. He testified that the 30 to 90
C.E
. estimate for the origin of the fragments could be further refined down to the years between 30 to 68. He was able to do this, he assured the
jury, because of what he and other scholars of history knew about the events of ancient Palestine in the year 68.

It was in that year that the Jewish desert religious community at Qumran had abandoned their dwellings by the Dead Sea because of the invasion of the Roman Tenth Legion. They had left behind their library of scrolls, stored in nearby caves—the so-called Dead Sea scrolls.

All this historical background, Beady went on to say, was very consistent with the information that Dr. Reichstad had published, and with what Reichstad and he had personally discussed, about the source of the fragment—that it had been in cave 7 at Qumran, stuck to the bottom of a jar, and was then found by an unknown Bedouin boy, who, after many years, had sold it to Azid, the antiquities dealer.

Beady concluded his testimony by indicating that Dr. Reichstad's conclusions about the date of the 7QA fragment—and the origin of the fragment being the Jerusalem area, and that the fact that it would likely have been written shortly after the time of the death of Jesus of Nazareth—were all undoubtedly correct.

As Sherman concluded his direct examination of Beady, Will listened carefully. He waited, expecting something more in Beady's final conclusions. Beady was fully qualified to have given a broader opinion about Reichstad's interpretation about the
meaning
of 7QA. But he didn't do that. And Sherman did not ask him to. Will knew that sometimes what is
not
said in court is sometimes more important than what
is
said.

But there was something else. Beady had been cautious in his testimony. Unlike Jorgenson, he had not made wide, sweeping statements of support for Reichstad and disdain for MacCameron. His testimony was clearly cut with square corners. Beady had been likeable and confident in front of the jury—but what he had had to say had been carefully controlled and limited. Dr. Victor Beady seemed to be a man who knew that the case had opened up some dangerous pitfalls. He, for one, apparently did not want to walk too close to the edge.

As Will walked up to the podium for his cross-examination he felt certain of one other thing. Beady had really done very little damage in his testimony. Most of it related to the
dating
of the 7QA and 7QB fragments. But MacCameron was not disputing these conclusions. So, while Will was prepared to challenge several technical points in Beady's arguments about the accuracy of his radiocarbon-dating procedure, he decided to let that go. He would just hit on a few essential points.

On cross-examination Beady readily admitted, without dispute, that he was earning the same half-million dollars a year at the research center as
Jorgenson was. And he quickly conceded that he had the same half-million-dollar stock interest in the center that Jorgenson did.

He also admitted his active participation in the Jesus Quest for the 21st Century group—and that the group was singularly opposed to the traditional idea of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Will concluded his examination of Beady with a final line of questioning. His questions came from something Beady had said in his direct testimony, about the “jar” in the cave where 7QA had come from.

“Dr. Beady, you said that 7QA came from a ‘jar.' Right?”

“Yes. That's right.”

“Did Dr. Reichstad tell you that?”

“He had to. He obtained the fragment. And then at some point he must have told me that it had been kept in a jar in the cave before its discovery by the Bedouin, who then sold it to Harim Azid, who then sold it to Dr. Reichstad.”

“So Dr. Reichstad told you that 7QA came from a jar in cave 7.”

“Counsel, that is not too remarkable. Many of the Dead Sea scrolls and fragments in those caves had been kept in jars.”