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The '''Jesus Seminar''' is a small organization of scholars assembled by former University of Montana professor Robert Funk for the purpose of finding what they considered the real, historical [[Jesus Christ]] through an investigation of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the [[New Testament]], plus the non-canonical ''Gospel of Thomas''.  Their conclusions of what Jesus said and did - arrived at through "scholarly consensus"[http://www.westarinstitute.org/Seminars/seminars.html] from a liberal perspective[http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jsem.htm] - were published in 1993 as ''The Five Gospels: The search for the authentic words of Jesus.'', a work which expresses their opinion as to what Jesus said - or didn't say - in the [[Bible]].

The '''Jesus Seminar''' is an organization of scholars assembled by former University of Montana professor Robert Funk for the purpose of finding what they considered the real, historical [[Jesus Christ]] through an investigation of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the [[New Testament]], plus the non-canonical ''Gospel of Thomas''.  Their conclusions of what Jesus said and did - arrived at through "scholarly consensus"[http://www.westarinstitute.org/Seminars/seminars.html] from a liberal perspective[http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jsem.htm] - were published in 1993 as ''The Five Gospels: The search for the authentic words of Jesus.'', a work which expresses their opinion as to what Jesus said - or didn't say - in the [[Bible]].

 

The Seminar has never officially disbanded, but after Funk's death in 2005 it ceased as an active organization, but many of the original members still continue their research and publications using the Seminar's methodologies.

==History==

==History==

In the mid-1970's Funk had expressed a desire for a work about the historical Jesus.  To that end he assembled a team of scholars, with the intent that they would create a version of the Gospels which reflected a consensus, based upon votes as to what constituted what they perceived as the "real" words of Jesus.  Rejecting the common "red-letter" edition pattern found in most Bibles, they used four different colors under the concept that historical assessment usually involves a varying degree of probability:

In the mid-1970's Funk had expressed a desire for a work about the historical Jesus.  To that end he assembled a team of scholars, with the intent that they would create a version of the Gospels which reflected a consensus, based upon votes as to what constituted what they perceived as the "real" words of Jesus.   

*Red: to illustrate what they believed were the words of Jesus;

 

*Pink: to illustrate those words which the Seminar believed were close to what He said, but not quite 100%;

*Gray: Jesus didn't say it, but there is evidence of His teachings within them;

*Black: Jesus never said it.

#Distinguishing between the [[Synoptic gospels]] and the [[Gospel according to John]] (considering the Synoptics to be "more historical" and John's Gospel to be "more spiritual");

#Identifying the (hypothetical) "Q document", which it considered the source of information found in Matthew and Luke, but not in Mark;

#Finally, reversing the burden of proof (i.e. instead of assuming the Gospel accounts were accurate and forcing someone to prove they were not, the Seminar assumed that the Gospel accounts were inaccurate and required someone to prove they were).

 

Each member of the Seminar used a series of colored beads for each saying of Jesus found in the Gospels (along with the Gospel of Thomas) to determine that voter's assessment of historical accuracy; each bead represented a number of "points", the more points, the more the voter (and, ultimately, the Seminar as a whole) considered the saying to be attributed to Jesus:

*A red bead (worth 3 points) indicated that the voter believed that Jesus actually quoted the passage, or something very close to it.

*A pink bead (worth 2 points) indicated that the voter believed that Jesus said something like the passage.

*A grey bead (worth 1 point) indicated that the voter believed that Jesus didn't say the passage, but that the passage contained His ideas or teachings.

*A black bead (worth 0 points) indicated that the voter believed that Jesus never said the passage, and that it was later added by admirers or later tradition.

Starting out with about 200 scholars in 1986, the number fell to 74 when ''The Five Gospels'' was published.  Fourteen of these individuals were academic professors with published works on the subject; twenty were also academics, but with far fewer publications.  Of the remainder, eighteen had no published papers on the subject at all.  Thirty-six of the scholars came from Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Claremont Universities, which were criticised for having the most-liberal New Testament study programs in any university.  In any case, most of the people who left the Seminar before the book went to print complained of the "radical fringes of New Testament scholarship" who were over-represented there, or of Funk's undermining of traditional Biblical values. [http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t017.html]

Starting out with about 200 scholars in 1986, the number fell to 74 when ''The Five Gospels'' was published.  Fourteen of these individuals were academic professors with published works on the subject; twenty were also academics, but with far fewer publications.  Of the remainder, eighteen had no published papers on the subject at all.  Thirty-six of the scholars came from Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Claremont Universities, which were criticised for having the most-liberal New Testament study programs in any university.  In any case, most of the people who left the Seminar before the book went to print complained of the "radical fringes of New Testament scholarship" who were over-represented there, or of Funk's undermining of traditional Biblical values. [http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t017.html]