Pixner's theories, linking archaeological sites to events and figures in the Bible, have been met with mixed acceptance by scholars. In particular, he argued for a connection between Jesus and the Essenes and for the identification of the Essene Gateway (excavated beginning in 1977) on Mount Zion, and the dating of the crucifixion to Friday, April 7, AD 30. He shared Bagatti and Testa's thesis of a Church of Zion, Jerusalem in the 3rd-4th Centuries.