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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 '''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.

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. The Westar Institute maintains a website explaining the work

==History==

==History==

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))

==Anti-Christian agenda==

==Anti-Christian agenda==

What is seen in Funk's paper the true mission of the Jesus Seminar, to present a fictionalized version of Jesus Christ to the masses, and to get them to believe that their "consensus" is the correct one.  According to author and Christian pastor Mark D. Roberts, the Seminar "wore a mask of scholarly objectivity and dispassionate scientific inquiry...based largely upon the image, one might be tempted to say 'the myth,' of the Seminar as a group of unbiased scholars who carefully sifted the evidence to discover what Jesus really said (and didn't say)"[http://markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/unmaskingthejesus.htm].

What is seen in Funk's paper the true mission of the Jesus Seminar, to present a fictionalized version of Jesus Christ to the masses, and to get them to believe that their "consensus" is the correct one.  According to author and Christian pastor Mark D. Roberts, the Seminar "wore a mask of scholarly objectivity and dispassionate scientific inquiry...based largely upon the image, one might be tempted to say 'the myth,' of the Seminar as a group of unbiased scholars who carefully sifted the evidence to discover what Jesus really said (and didn't say)"[http://markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/unmaskingthejesus.htm].

==References==

==External Links==

*Funk, Robert W. et al, ''The Five Gospels: The search for the authentic words of Jesus.'', New York: Macmillan (1993).

*Funk, Robert W. et al, ''The Five Gospels: The search for the authentic words of Jesus.'', New York: Macmillan (1993).

[[Category:Christian Movements]]

[[Category:Christian Movements]]

[[Category:Liberal Falsehoods]]

[[Category:Liberal Falsehoods]]