Changes

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.   

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.   

The Seminar used what it termed "Seven Pillars of Scholarly Wisdom" which it termed the basis for "modern critical scholarship" of Jesus:

The Seminar used what it termed "Seven Pillars of Scholarly Wisdom" which it termed the basis for "modern critical scholarship" of Jesus:

#Distinguishing between "historical Jesus" and what the Gospels say about Him;

#Distinguishing between "historical Jesus" and what the Gospels say about Him;

#Distinguishing between cultures relying on oral sayings vs. written accounts (in their view, as Jesus lived in an oral culture, the Seminar assumed that short, memorable stories or phrases were more likely to be historically accurate); and

#Distinguishing between cultures relying on oral sayings vs. written accounts (in their view, as Jesus lived in an oral culture, the Seminar assumed that short, memorable stories or phrases were more likely to be historically accurate); and

#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).

#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:

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 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.

*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]

As an example of the methodology, certain portions of The Beatitudes were given the following ratings:

*The Beatitudes as accounted in Luke 6:20-21 (the poor, the hungry, and those who weep) were rated red.

*Matthew's accounts of those same Beatitudes were rated pink, as Matthew had "spiritualized" those pertaining to the poor and the hungry.

*The Beatitude for those persecuted in Jesus' name was rated grey, as it "might" trace back to those who suffer, but likely represented the concerns of the early Christian community and not the actual message of Jesus.

*The Beatitudes for the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, and peace-makers were rated black, for lack of second attestation and for lack of irony.

The result of their research - despite having a collection of more than 1500 versions of approximately 500 Christian writings which were authored prior to 313 A.D. - declared, among other things, that the Virgin Birth, the feeding of the 5000, the raising of Lazarus or any other miracle, had never happened; that Jesus had only said those words which the Seminar had concluded - by consensus - were said during the oral period of 30 - 50 A.D. (Funk, pg. 25).  The total use of "red" throughout ''The Five Gospels'' was limited to fifteen lines, of which only one shared line - "give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's..." - was red in all the canonical Gospels; it was the only red entry in ''Mark'', and there were no red entries in ''John''.  The Lord's Prayer in Matthew was reduced to two words as authentic: "Our Father"[http://www.allaboutreligion.org/critics-of-the-jesus-seminar-faq.htm]. The remainder of Jesus' words were attributed to being partially or fully the creation of the Gospel writers; the pink and grey entries were easily-considered "liberal" entries, i.e. those favored by liberalism.  The black entries, predominantly prophetical, were dismissed as fiction.[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t017.html#whatdidtheyconclude]  Funk wrote in his book ''"The Gospels are now assumed to be narratives in which the memory of Jesus is embellished by mythic elements that express the church's faith in him, and by plausible fictions that enhance the telling of the gospel story for first-century listeners who knew about divine men and miracle workers firsthand."'' (Funk, pg 5))

The result of their research - despite having a collection of more than 1500 versions of approximately 500 Christian writings which were authored prior to 313 A.D. - declared, among other things, that the Virgin Birth, the feeding of the 5000, the raising of Lazarus or any other miracle, had never happened; that Jesus had only said those words which the Seminar had concluded - by consensus - were said during the oral period of 30 - 50 A.D. (Funk, pg. 25).  The total use of "red" throughout ''The Five Gospels'' was limited to fifteen lines, of which only one shared line - "give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's..." - was red in all the canonical Gospels; it was the only red entry in ''Mark'', and there were no red entries in ''John''.  The Lord's Prayer in Matthew was reduced to two words as authentic: "Our Father"[http://www.allaboutreligion.org/critics-of-the-jesus-seminar-faq.htm]. The remainder of Jesus' words were attributed to being partially or fully the creation of the Gospel writers; the pink and grey entries were easily-considered "liberal" entries, i.e. those favored by liberalism.  The black entries, predominantly prophetical, were dismissed as fiction.[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t017.html#whatdidtheyconclude]  Funk wrote in his book ''"The Gospels are now assumed to be narratives in which the memory of Jesus is embellished by mythic elements that express the church's faith in him, and by plausible fictions that enhance the telling of the gospel story for first-century listeners who knew about divine men and miracle workers firsthand."'' (Funk, pg 5))