Changes

Of the 74 scholars that remained at the end of the original book, 36 came from [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]], [[Harvard University|Harvard]], and Claremont, universities which were criticized for having the most-liberal New Testament study programs.  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 from the outset.<ref>http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t017.html</ref>

Of the 74 scholars that remained at the end of the original book, 36 came from [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]], [[Harvard University|Harvard]], and Claremont, universities which were criticized for having the most-liberal New Testament study programs.  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 from the outset.<ref>http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t017.html</ref>

Furthermore the Seminar did not use any actual English translation (such as the King James Version or any modern one available), nor did it use any Greek texts available (to counter any issues which unavoidably exist when translating from one language to another).  Instead, it created its own "translation" which it called "the Scholars version", thereby (likely) adding bias into the final vote (and in one case adding a profanity which did not exist in the Greek or in any English translation).

Furthermore the Seminar did not use any actual English translation of the Gospels (such as the venerable [[King James Version]] or any of the modern ones available at the time), nor did it use any of the Greek texts available (which would counter any issues that unavoidably exist when translating from one language to another).  Instead, it created its own "translation" which it called "the Scholars version", thereby (likely) adding bias into the final vote (and in one case adding a profanity which did not exist in the Greek or in any English translation).

In his opening remarks at the first Seminar meeting, Funk openly stated that "we are having increasing difficulty these days in accepting the biblical account of the creation and of the apocalyptic conclusion in anything like a literal sense" and further that said difficulty "is connected with a second feature: we now know that narrative accounts of ourselves, our nation, the Western tradition, and the history of the world, are fictions".  Funk would go on further to state that "that the Bible, along with all our histories, is a fiction" and that the "fiction of Revelation keeps many common folk in bondage to ignorance and fear". <ref>https://www.westarinstitute.org/projects/jesus-seminar-opening-remarks/</ref>

In his opening remarks at the first Seminar meeting, Funk openly stated that "we are having increasing difficulty these days in accepting the biblical account of the creation and of the apocalyptic conclusion in anything like a literal sense" and further that said difficulty "is connected with a second feature: we now know that narrative accounts of ourselves, our nation, the Western tradition, and the history of the world, are fictions".  Funk would go on further to state that "that the Bible, along with all our histories, is a fiction" and that the "fiction of Revelation keeps many common folk in bondage to ignorance and fear". <ref>https://www.westarinstitute.org/projects/jesus-seminar-opening-remarks/</ref>