Jesus Seminar Totally Explained

Everything about The Jesus Seminar totally explained

The Jesus Seminar is a group of about 200 individuals who include "scholars with advanced degrees in biblical studies, religion or related fields [aswell as] published authors who are recognized authorities in the field of religion" founded in 1985 by the late Robert Funk and John Dominic Crossan under the auspices of the Westar Institute. One of the most active groups in biblical criticism, the seminar uses votes with colored marbles (see below) to determine what Jesus, as a historical figure, may or may not have said or done. In addition, the seminar popularizes research into the historical Jesus. The public is welcome to attend the twice-yearly meetings. They produced new translations of the New Testament plus the Gospel of Thomas to use as textual sources. They published their results in three reports The Five Gospels (1993), The Acts of Jesus (1998), and The Gospel of Jesus (1999). They also run a series of lectures and workshops in various U.S. cities. The seminar's reconstruction of Jesus portrays him as an itinerant Hellenistic Jewish sage who didn't die as a substitute for sinners nor rise from the dead, but preached a "social gospel" in startling parables and aphorisms. An iconoclast, Jesus broke with established Jewish theological dogmas and social conventions both in his teachings and behaviors, often by turning common-sense ideas upside down, confounding the expectations of his audience: He preached of "Heaven's imperial rule" (traditionally translated as "Kingdom of God") as being already present but unseen; he depicts God as a loving father; he fraternizes with outsiders and criticizes insiders.
The seminar treats the gospels as historical artifacts, representing not only Jesus' actual words and deeds but also the inventions and elaborations of the early Christian community and of the gospel authors. The fellows placed the burden of proof on those who advocate any passage's historicity. Unconcerned with canonical boundaries, they asserted that the Gospel of Thomas has more authentic material than the Gospel of John.
While analyzing the gospels as fallible human creations is a standard historical-critical method, the seminar's premise that Jesus didn't hold an apocalyptic world view is controversial. Rather than revealing an apocalyptic eschatology, which instructs his disciples to prepare for the end of the world, the fellows argue that the authentic words of Jesus indicate that he preached a sapiential eschatology, which encourages all God's children to repair the world.

Use of historical methods

The scholars attending attempt to reconstruct the life of the historical Jesus. They try to ask who he was, what he did, what he said, and what his sayings meant, using a number of tools. Their reconstruction is based on social anthropology, history and textual analysis. The key feature is the rejection of apocalyptic eschatology. They use cross-cultural anthropological studies to set the general background, narrow in on the history and society of first-century Palestine, and use textual analysis (along with more anthropology and history) to focus on Jesus himself. They use a combination of primary sources, secondary sources, and archaeological evidence. Their methodology, which was developed by a team of scholars (who expounded papers for the review of other Fellows and published many in Forum) and is explained in The Five Gospels (the four canonical gospels plus the Gospel of Thomas), involves canvassing the records of the first four centuries for traditions about Jesus and sifting them by criteria such as multiple attestation, distinctiveness, and orality.

"Seven pillars of scholarly wisdom"

The Five Gospels lists seven bases for the modern critical scholarship of Jesus. These "pillars" have developed since the end of the 18th century.

Distinguishing between historical Jesus and the Christ of faith (see Hermann Samuel Reimarus, David Strauss).
Recognizing the synoptic gospels as more historically accurate than John (19th century German tradition, see higher criticism).
The priority of Mark before Matthew and Luke (by 1900)
Identification of the Q document (by 1900)
Rejection of eschatological (apocalyptic) Jesus (1970s and 1980s).
Distinction between oral and written culture
Reversal of burden of proof from those who consider gospel content to be ahistorical to those who consider it historical.

While some of these pillars are noncontroversial, some scholars of the historical Jesus follow Albert Schweitzer in regarding him as apocalyptic. The Five Gospels says that the non-apocalyptic view gained ground in the 1970s and 1980s when research into Jesus shifted out of religious environments and into secular academia. Marcus Borg says "the old consensus that Jesus was an eschatological prophet who proclaimed the imminent end of the world has disappeared," and identifies two reasons for this change. First, since the 1960s, the gospel references to the coming Son of Man have been sometimes viewed as insertions by the early Christian community. Second, many scholars came to see Jesus' kingdom of God as a present reality, a "realized eschatology", rather than an imminent end of the world. The apocalyptic elements attributed to Jesus, according to The Five Gospels, come from John the Baptist and the early Christian community (p. 4).

The Scholars translation

The Seminar began by translating the gospels into modern American English, producing the "Scholars Version," (to be found in The Five Gospels). This translation uses current colloquialisms and contemporary phrasing in an effort to provide a contemporary sense of the gospel authors' styles, if not their literal words. The goal was to let the reader hear the message as a first-century listener might have. The translators avoided other translations' archaic, literal translation of the text, or a superficial update of it. For example, they translate "woe to you" as "damn you" because it sounds like something someone today would really say. The authors of The Five Gospels argue that some other gospel translations have attempted to unify the language of the gospels, while they themselves have tried to preserve each author's distinct voice.

Seminar proceedings

The Jesus Seminar, like the translation committees who created the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version of the Bible and the Novum Testamentum Graece, chose voting as the most efficient means of determining consensus in an assembled group. The system also lent itself to publicity, which the Seminar actively pursued.
The Fellows used a "bead system" to vote on the authenticity of about 500 statements and events. The color of the bead represented how sure the Fellow was that a saying or act was or wasn't authentic.

Red beads – indicated the voter believed Jesus did say the passage quoted, or something very much like the passage. (3 Points)

Pink beads – indicated the voter believed Jesus probably said something like the passage. (2 Points)

Grey beads – indicated the voter believed Jesus didn't say the passage, but it contains Jesus' ideas. (1 Point)

Black beads – indicated the voter believed Jesus didn't say the passage—it comes from later admirers or a different tradition. (0 Points) The consensus position was determined by the average weighted score, rather than by simple majority. This meant that all opinions were reflected in the decisions. The voting system means that the reader can second-guess each vote. The Five Gospels defines not only the result of the vote (red, pink, gray, or black) but also how many polls were necessary to reach a conclusion (if any were necessary at all) and why various fellows chose to vote in different ways.
Attendees, however, did more than vote. They met semi-annually to debate the papers presented. Some verses required extensive debate and repeated votes.

Sayings of Jesus

The first findings of the Jesus Seminar were published in 1993 as The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus.. The Gospel of Thomas includes just two unique sayings that the seminar attributes to Jesus: the empty jar (97) and the assassin (98). Every other probably-authentic or authentic saying has parallels in the synoptics.

Gehenna and Hades

The gospels use the terms gehenna and hades for places of fiery punishment and death. The fellows rated Jesus' references to gehenna and hades as gray at best, often black. Some such references (such as the parable of Lazarus and Dives) have features that the fellows might regard as authentic, such as dramatic reversals of fortune. These received gray designations. The fellows regarded other references as inventions of early Christians responding to those who rejected Jesus' message or to "false" Christians within the community.

Example: the beatitudes

The Jesus Seminar rated various beatitudes as red, pink, gray, and black.
To analyze the beatitudes, they first innovated a nonliteral translation for the formula "blessed are," as in "Blessed are the poor." Modern readers are familiar enough with the beatitudes that this construction doesn't shock or surprise, as the original sayings allegedly did. As the modern equivalent, the Scholar's Version uses "Congratulations!"
Three beatitudes are "paradoxical" and doubly attested. They are rated red (authentic) as they appear in Luke 6:20-21.

Congratulations, you poor!
God's domain belongs to you.
Congratulations, you hungry!
You will have a feast.
Congratulations, you who weep now!
You will laugh.

These beatitudes feature the dramatic presentation and reversal of expectations that the seminar regards as characteristic of Jesus.
The beatitude for those persecuted in Jesus' name might trace back to Jesus as a beatitude for those who suffer, the fellows decided, but in its final form the saying represents concerns of the Christian community rather than Jesus' message. Thus it received a gray rating.
Matthew's version of the three authentic beatitudes were rated pink. The author has spiritualized two of them, so that they now refer to the poor "in spirit" and to those who hunger "and thirst for justice." Matthew also includes beatitudes for the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, and peace-makers. These beatitudes have no second attestation, lack irony, and received a black rating.

Acts of Jesus

In 1998 the Jesus Seminar published The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus., Ben Witherington, Gregory A. Boyd, N.T. Wright, William Lane Craig, Craig A. Evans and The Watchman Expositor. The Christian Arsenal go so far as to depict the Jesus Seminar as a tool of Satan, meant to undermine Biblical beliefs.

Divorcing Jesus from his cultural context and followers

One of the Seminar's tests for inauthenticity is that it "matches closely with beliefs of the early Church community". Matthias Zahniser, Asbury Theological Seminary criticizes this saying that it prohibits the possibility that Jesus would be concerned with anything the early Church is concerned with. J. Ed Komoszewski and co-authors state that the Jesus Seminar's "Criteria for In/Authenticity" create "an eccentric Jesus who learned nothing from his own culture and made no impact on his followers". Others ask rhetorically, "why would such a Jesus be crucified?" The same criticism has been made by Craig Evans.

Use of a flawed voting system

The voting system has been criticized by, among others, NT Wright, who says '... I can't understand how, if a majority ... thought a saying authentic or probably authentic, the "weighted average" turned out to be "probably inauthentic". A voting system that produces a result like this ought to be scrapped.'

Ignoring evidence for eschatological teachings of Jesus

Dale Allison of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, in his 1999 book Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet, cited what he felt were problems with the work of (particularly) John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg, arguing that their conclusions were at least in part predetermined by their theological positions. He also pointed out the limitations of their presumptions and methodology. Allison argued that despite the conclusions of the seminar, Jesus was a prophetic figure focused to a large extent on apocalyptic thinking. Some scholars have reasserted Albert Schweitzer's eschatological view of Jesus.

Creating a Jesus based on the presuppositions of the members

Luke Timothy Johnson of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, in his 1996 book The Real Jesus, voiced concerns with the seminar's work. He criticized the techniques of the Seminar, believing them to be far more limited for historical reconstruction than seminar members believe. Their conclusions were "already determined ahead of time," Johnson says, which "is not responsible, or even critical scholarship. It is a self-indulgent charade."

Bias against canonical sources and for non-canonical sources

Daniel L. Akin, writing in the Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention, called the work of the Jesus Seminar "destructive criticism". Craig Blomberg notes that if the Jesus Seminar’s findings are to be believed then “it requires the assumption that someone, about a generation removed from the events in question, radically transformed the authentic information about Jesus that was circulating at that time, superimposed a body of material four times as large, fabricated almost entirely out of whole cloth, while the church suffered sufficient collective amnesia to accept the transformation as legitimate.” Craig Evans argues that the Jesus Seminar applies a form of hypercriticism to the canonical gospels that unreasonably assumes that "Jesus' contemporaries (that is, the first generation of his movement) were either incapable of remembering or uninterested in recalling accurately what Jesus said and did, and in passing it on" while, in contrast, privileging extra-canonical texts with an uncritical acceptance that sometimes rises to the level of special pleading. of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, in his 1996 book The Real Jesus, also argued that while many members of the seminar are reputable scholars (Borg, Crossan, Funk, others), others are relatively unknown or undistinguished in the field of biblical studies. One member, Paul Verhoeven, holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics, not biblical studies, and is best known as a film director. Johnson also critiqued the seminar for its attempts to gain the attention of the media for the 2000 ABC News program "The Search for Jesus" hosted by news anchor Peter Jennings. Seminar critic William Lane Craig has argued that the self-selected members of the group don't represent the consensus of New Testament scholars. He writes:

Of the 74 [scholars] listed in their publication The Five Gospels, only 14 would be leading figures in the field of New Testament studies. More than half are basically unknowns, who have published only two or three articles. Eighteen of the fellows have published nothing at all in New Testament studies. Most have relatively undistinguished academic positions, for example, teaching at a community college.

Others have made the same point and have further indicated that thirty-six of those scholars, almost half, have a degree from or currently teach at one of three schools, Harvard, Claremont, or Vanderbilt: all considered to favor "liberal" interpretations of the New Testament.

Response of the Jesus Seminar

Members of the Jesus Seminar have responded to their critics in various books and dialogues, which typically defend both their methodology and their conclusions. Among these responses are The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics by Robert J. Miller, a member of the Seminar; The Apocalyptic Jesus: A Debate, a dialogue with Allison, Borg, Crossan, and Stephen Patterson; The Jesus Controversy: Perspectives in Conflict, a dialogue between Crossan, Johnson, and Werner H. Kelber. The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, by Borg and N. T. Wright demonstrated how two scholars with divergent theological positions can work together to creatively share and discuss their thoughts.

Fellows of the Jesus Seminar

� This is a partial list of past and present members of the Jesus seminar per The Five Gospels and The Westar Institute Website

. Even critics acknowledge that over a dozen of them are, in their own rights, leading figures in the field. As many as two hundred have participated in the work.

Robert W. Funk, Ph.D.
John Dominic Crossan, Ph.D.
Andries G. van Aarde, D.D.
Valerie A. Abrahamsen, Th. D.
Martin L. Appelt
Karen Armstrong
Richard L. Arthur, Th.D.
Harold W. Attridge, Ph.D.
Robert Bater, Ph.D.
William Beardslee, Ph.D.
Joseph Bessler-Northcutt, Ph. D.
Edward F. Beutner, Ph.D.
Sterling Bjorndahl, Ph.D.
Anthony Blasi, Ph.D., Th.D.
Marcus Borg, D.Phil.
Willi Braun, Ph.D.
James R. Butts, Ph.D.
Marvin F. Cain, Ph.D.
Ron Cameron, Ph.D.
Bruce D. Chilton, Ph.D.
Kathleen E. Corley, Ph.D.
Wendy J. Cotter C.S.J., Ph.D.
Don Cupitt
Jon Daniels, Ph.D.
Jean Jacques D'Aoust
Stevan L. Davies, Ph.D.
Jon F. Dechow, Ph.D.
Arthur J. Dewey, Th.D.
Joanna Dewey, Ph.D.
John Dillenberger, Ph.D.
William Doty
Darrell J. Doughty
Dennis C. Duling, Ph.D.
Susan M. Elliott, Ph.D.
Robert T. Fortna, Ph.D.
Robert M. Fowler
David Galston
James Goss, Ph.D.
Heinz Guenther, Th.D.
Sakari Hakkinen
Maurice Hamington, Ph.D.
Walter Harrelson, Th.D.
Stephen L Harris, Ph.D.
Charles W. Hedrick, Ph.D.
James D. Hester, D.Theol.
C.M. Kempton Hewitt, Ph.D.
Jack A. Hill, Ph.D.
Julian V. Hills, Th.D.
Richard Holloway, D.D., D.Litt.
Roy W. Hoover, Th.D.
Benjamin J. Hubbard
Michael L. Humphries, Ph.D.
Margaret D. Hutaff
Glenna S. Jackson, Ph.D.
Arland D. Jacobson, Ph.D.
Clayton N. Jefford, Th.M, Ph.D.
Gregory C. Jenks, Ph.D.
Bob Jones
F. Stanley Jones, D.Theol, Ph.D.
Larry Kalajainen, Ph.D.
Perry Kea, Ph.D.
John C. Kelly
William Doane Kelly, Ph.D.
Chan-Hie Kim, Ph.D.
Karen L. King, Ph.D.
John S. Kloppenborg, Ph.D.
Ron Large
Paul Alan Laughlin, Ph.D.
Nigel Leaves, Ph.D.
Lloyd Geering, D.D.
Davidson Loehr, Ph.D.

Sanford Lowe, D.Min, D.D.
John Lown, Ph.D.
Gerd Luedemann, D.Theol., D. Habil.
Dennis R. MacDonald, Ph.D.
Burton L. Mack, Ph.D.
Loren Mack-Fisher, Ph.D.
Francis Macnab, Ph.D., D.D., D.Sc.
Shelley Matthews, Th.D.
Brian Rice McCarthy
Lane C. McGaughy, Ph.D.
Robin B. McGonigle, Dr. M
Edward J. McMahon II, Ph.D.
Daniel Marguerat
Marvin W. Meyer, Ph.D.
Darren Middleton
J. Ramsey Michaels, Th.M., Ph.D.
William R. Millar
L. Bruce Miller, Ph.D.
Robert J. Miller, Ph.D.
Robert L'H Miller, Th.D.
Milton Moreland
Winsome Munro, Ed.D.
Culver H. Nelson, D.D., D.D.
Rob Parrott, Ph.D.
Stephen J. Patterson, Ph.D.
Richard I. Pervo, Th.D.
Robert M. Price, Ph.D.
Anne Primavesi, D.Phil.
Howard Rice
Vernon K. Robbins, Ph.D.
James M. Robinson, D.Theol, Ph.D.
John J. Rousseau, Ph.D., D.Rel.
Stan Rummel
Marianne Sawicki, Ph.D.
Daryl D. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Oswald Schrag
Bernard Brandon Scott, Ph.D.
Andrew D. Scrimgeour
Philip Sellew, Th.D.
Chris Shea, Ph.D.
Thomas Sheehan, Ph.D.
Lou H. Silberman, D.H.L.
Dennis Smith, Th.D.
Mahlon H. Smith, M.S.L.
Graydon Snyder
John Shelby Spong, D.D.
John Staten
Michael G. Steinhauser, Th.D.
Robert F. Stoops, Jr., Ph.D.
Johann Strijdom, D.Litt., et Phil.
Jon Sveinbjornsson
Jarmo Tarkki, Ph.D.
W. Barnes Tatum, Ph.D.
Hal Taussig, Ph.D.
Barbara Thiering, Ph.D.
Joseph B. Tyson, Ph.D.
Leif E. Vaage, Ph.D.
James Veitch, Ph.D., Th.D.
Paul Verhoeven, Ph.D. (mathematics)
Wesley Hiram Wachob, Ph.D.
William O. Walker, Jr., Ph.D.
Donna Wallace, Ph.D.
Robert L. Webb, Ph.D.
Theodore J. Weeden, Sr., Ph.D.
James E. West, Th.D.
John L. White, Ph.D.
John L. White, B.D.
L. Michael White
Walter Wink, Th.D.
Sara C. Winter., Ph.D.

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