What is The Jesus Seminar?

They are a group of prestigious scholars sponsored by a scholarly think tank called the Westar Institute. More than two hundred gospel scholars drawn from the staffs of a huge variety of Colleges and Universities around the world have become the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar.

What was the purpose of The Jesus Seminar?

To search for the Authentic words of Jesus in Scripture!

Can’t one just go to the Bible for actual quotes?

Observe the words recorded of Jesus at the last supper by three new testament authors in the King James Version:

• [mark 14:22]…Take eat: this is my body….This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
  
  
• [matthew 26:26] ..Take, eat, this is my body….drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my father’s kingdom.
  
  
• [luke 22:1] For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God…Take this and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come…This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me…This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

These cannot be actual quotes of Jesus since they are all different. [This just represents the tip of the iceberg.]

In Mark, Jesus is quoted as saying: …"all of a sudden"…but since this evangelist uses the expression forty-two times [as opposed to once in Luke and seven times in Matthew] it is more likely that Mark inserted this phrase into the discourse of Jesus. Such is characteristic of Mark's style.

Do scholars know when the Gospels were written?

The period of time from the death of Jesus to the first collections of sayings ascribed to Jesus was twenty years. These were not narratives nor stories but in reality collections of sayings. This is known as the oral period. The passing of an oral tradition is a lot like telling a joke - seldom do we retell it the exact same way we heard it [or for that matter the same way we last retold it] although we can probably recall the general organization and the punch line.

Disciples of Jesus certainly repeated his memorable words but people don’t ordinarily remember the exact wording of parables and sayings. Hearing these repeated in various forms they would adapt them to the situation at hand, inventing and improvising as the occasions would demand.

A second problem is with the written texts themselves. The oldest surviving copies of the gospels date from about one hundred and seventy five years after the death of Jesus, [no two copies are precisely alike] having been originally composed during the last quarter of the first century by third-generation authors [scholars theorize In the absence of hard information] on the basis of folk memories preserved in stories that had circulated by word of mouth for decades. These gospels were written by people who worshipped him as a divine being and regarded him as the spokesman for their own beliefs and ideals.

Handmade manuscripts have almost always been ‘corrected’ here and there, often by more than one hand. [Remember the printing press was not invented until 1454] One can see that a lot of the emerging Christian theology of the time, as understood by the various authors, got mixed in to what they quoted Jesus as saying.

In what venue did they present their findings?

One of their primary publications is entitled: The Five Gospels. It is their original translation of the New Testament. The reason the number is five is because they have included the recently discovered [non-canonicaI] Book of Thomas.

Permit me to enumerate several features of this work:

• Independence - Translations endorsed by church boards tend to transliterate, translating word for word from a Greek to English Dictionary. This way they avoid doctrinal criticisms. Much including idiomatic expression is lost in this manner. I am reminded of the time a computer attempted the translation of: "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." It was rendered: "The wine is OK but the meat was spoiled." Using traditional translation techniques makes each gospel sound like the other.
  
  
• Authenticity The Jesus Seminar uses a fresh approach. Colloquialisms in Greek are translated to appropriate English colloquialisms. They shunned substituting pious terms for authentic rough language. Style and grammatical tense are important. In Greek we find Mark oral and colloquial; he strings things together, has a breathless atmosphere and uses hurry-up adverbs. Luke was more Literary. The authors make it sound like that individual author is reading you a story in his unique style. [If you have not read John’s Last Gospel in his idiom you have really missed something.]
  
  
• Comprehensiveness - They classified all words attributed to Jesus in the first three centuries, collecting more than fifteen hundred versions of about five hundred items sorting them into parables, aphorisms, dialogues and stories - extending through the non-canonical. They examined these works in the several languages written. The members met twice yearly to debate technical papers, item by item, which had previously been prepared and circulated.
  
  
• The Gospel of Thomas - Known in the early church, it was lost for centuries. The primary knowledge of Jesus has been derived from the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of Thomas. Thomas is not found in ordinary bibles because it was not included in the original cannon in Nicea.
  
  
• Commentary - This scholar’s version of the Bible [also known as SV] has extensive commentary on the texts, attempting to show why the passages did or did not represent the actual words of Jesus.

A criticism of this group is that they made their determinations by voting.

This procedure is not uncommon. Translation committees for both the King James and Revised Standard versions used voting techniques. The results of the Jesus Seminar, like all works of science, based on the best data at hand, are tentative. They represent the best conjecture based on what is presently known. To form the best consensus of the scholars, a voting method was used on all texts, utilizing colors to represent the following:

• red - Jesus’ words or close
• pink - Fairly close
• grey - Ideas that complement his
• black - Comes from a later tradition

What techniques did they use to sort out the Authentic words of Jesus from what was recorded in the gospels?

They used the following techniques:

The most likely words of Jesus to remember [and survive the oral period] would be short, provocative, often repeated sayings, anecdotes, aphorisms and parables because these things are easiest to remember.

The reconstruction is made easier because the talk of Jesus was distinctive. His parables cut against the religious and social grain. His parables surprise and shock. They frustrate ordinary expectations. They often call for reversal of roles. The authentic Jesus uses exaggeration, paradox and humor. He uses concrete, vivid imagery and metaphorical parables without explicit application. He rarely speaks about himself [as purported, for example in much of John’s gospel] and responds to dialogue and debate and cures people but does not initiate these activities in general.

They were able to extract this information, by observing these ideas as they are found in multiple contexts, by the different authors and from independent sources by removing the material added by the authors. In every age we find storytellers freely inventing words for their characters to carry the story line along. In the gospels we find repeated instances where the parable is repeated by a different author with a different story line used in a different context to support a different idea. Items in the story that have happened since Jesus’ death and those transition and repetitive phrases characteristic of that author can easily be excluded. That is the gist of it but in actuality the procedure is much more complicated.

Can you give me a few short examples of what the seminar thought were authentic words of Jesus?

Yes. Here are a few:

• …love your enemies…
• Give to everyone who begs from you…
• When someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well. When someone takes away your coat, don’t prevent that person from taking your shirt along with it.
• What does God’s imperial rule remind me of? It is like leaven which a woman took and concealed in fifty pounds of flower until it was all leavened.
• Pay the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and God what belongs to God.
• There was a man going from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead.. ...But this Samaritan...bandaged his wounds…The next day he took out two silver coins…., 'Look after him….I’ll reimburse you for any extra expenses…’

How did they score the Lords Prayer?

Here is their translation of the Lords Prayer, in colored text through red, green, blue and black, representing shades of authenticity from Jesus’ words to content of a later or different tradition.

Our father in the heavens, your name be reveared. Impose your imperial rule, enact your will on earth as you have in heaven. Provide us with the bread we need for the day. Forgive our debts to the extent that we have forgiven those in debt to us. And please don’t subject us to test after test, but rescue us from the evil one.

Did the Jesus Seminar find that the major parables of Jesus are his authentic words?

Yes! The Major Parables of Jesus are Authentic!

Among the major parables of Jesus are: Samaritan; prodigal son; dinner party; vineyard laborers; shrewd manager; unforgiving slave; corrupt judge; leaven; mustard seed ;pearl; and treasure. These were rated by the Jesus Seminar in their highest category or in the second highest representing only minor modifications.

What did you learn from the book, The Five Gospels?

• I learned that separating the Jesus of history from the emerging Christ of faith presents a formidable problem.
  
  
• As I focused on the differences between the synoptic gospels and the gospel of John, I realized how different are the two portraits of Jesus just in the gospels of the New Testament.
  
  
• The synoptic gospels quote Jesus speaking in short sentences. He has little to say there about Himself. He speaks in parables and aphorisms. He espouses the causes of the poor and oppressed. He is pictured as a sage and exorcist. Mark has Jesus ask his followers to keep many things secret for a while.
  
  
• The author known as John, shows a boastful Jesus who speaks in long sentences of rich theological development. This Jesus favors expressions beginning with "I am…" The bread of life, the paschal lamb, the way, etc." He reflects extensively on his own mission and person. This Jesus has little or nothing to say about the poor or oppressed. He does not perform exorcisms but takes on the character of a philosopher and mystic.
  
  
• The synoptic gospels are much older. The gospel of John, relies heavily on theology from the emerging Christian community which is put into Jesus’ mouth.. There is only one line coded red; few in violet; most in black.
  
  
• I learned that the apocalyptic speculations attributed to Jesus are likely untrue. That these represent the thoughts of John the Baptist. Jesus apparently dissociated himself from this kind of thinking early on. For Jesus, the kingdom of God is at hand.
  
  
• I learned that Jesus did not punctuate his remarks with Old Testament verses - these were added later. He taught with his own authority. In fact, one of the foot notes, it says: "Jesus himself does not claim that he had been assigned a specific mission that he had to carry out."… "The understanding of Jesus’ death as a saving event became the cornerstone of the early Christian ‘gospel’."
  
  
• I learned a lot about the style of the authors. I can see their use of ‘literary license’ as they crafted their stories, imparting their own style of conversational dialog to Jesus. I understand how they used their communities’ recollections of Jesus utterances [laden with developing theological reflections] in their story telling.
  
  
• The humor of Jesus emerges as it never has before.
  
  
• I realize that while many of the ideas of the emerging church were projected as words of Jesus, that this does not necessarily invalidate them as theological thoughts worthy of consideration. I still find much in John to be a valid allegory of what the sonhood of God might very well be like. On the other hand, I find much repetition there and much which is self serving for the institutional church.
  

The ideas presented by the Jesus seminar will take time for me to sort out. These are just first impressions. The Five Gospels does not have a summary - that is properly left to the reader.

Where can I find more information on the Jesus Seminar?

For more information go to the Jesus Seminar Forum at Rutgers University.