The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 biblical criticism scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute . The seminar was very active through the 1980s and 1990s, and into the early 21st century.
155-519: Members of the Seminar used votes with colored beads to decide their collective view of the historicity of the deeds and sayings of Jesus of Nazareth . They produced new translations of the New Testament and apocrypha to use as textual sources. They published their results in three reports: The Five Gospels (1993), The Acts of Jesus (1998), and The Gospel of Jesus (1999). They also ran
310-460: A gospel of liberation from injustice in startling parables and aphorisms . An iconoclast , Jesus broke with established Jewish theological dogmas and social conventions both in his teachings and in his behavior, often by turning common-sense ideas upside down, confounding the expectations of his audience: he preached of "Heaven's imperial rule" (traditionally translated as " Kingdom of God ") as being already present but unseen; he depicted God as
465-494: A loving father ; he fraternized with outsiders and criticized insiders. According to the Seminar, Jesus was a mortal man born of two human parents, who did not perform nature miracles nor die as a substitute for sinners nor rise bodily from the dead. Sightings of a risen Jesus represented the visionary experiences of some of his disciples rather than physical encounters. While these claims, not accepted by conservative Christian laity, have been repeatedly made in various forms since
620-558: A three-fold argument first developed in the 19th century: that the New Testament has no historical value with respect to Jesus's existence, that there are no non-Christian references to Jesus from the first century, and that Christianity had pagan and/or mythical roots. Contemporary scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed, and biblical scholars and classical historians view the theories of his nonexistence as effectively refuted. Robert M. Price , an atheist who denies
775-615: A Jew named Jesus who spoke Aramaic and wore tzitzit . There are different hypotheses regarding the origin of the texts because the gospels of the New Testament were written in Greek for Greek-speaking communities , and were later translated into Syriac, Latin, and Coptic. The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John , differs greatly from the Synoptic Gospels and scholars generally consider it to be less useful for reconstructions of
930-445: A contemporary sense of the gospel authors' styles, if not their literal words. The goal was to let the reader hear the message as a first-century listener might have. The translators avoided other translations' archaic, literal translation of the text, or a superficial update of it. For example, they translate "woe to you" as "damn you". The authors of The Complete Gospels argue that some other gospel translations have attempted to unify
1085-539: A degree from or currently teach at one of three schools: Harvard , Claremont , or Vanderbilt University , all of which are considered to favor " liberal " interpretations of the New Testament. To open theist Greg Boyd , a prominent evangelical pastor and theologian, "The Jesus Seminar represents an extremely small number of radical-fringe scholars who are on the far, far left wing of New Testament thinking. It does not represent mainstream scholarship." New Testament scholar Mark Allan Powell has stated: "The Jesus Seminar
1240-683: A few years after the crucifixion, and got some direct information about his life from them. From Paul's writings alone, a fairly full outline of the life of Jesus can be found: his descent from Abraham and David, his upbringing in the Jewish Law, gathering together disciples, including Cephas (Peter) and John, having a brother named James, living an exemplary life, the Last Supper and betrayal, numerous details surrounding his death and resurrection (e.g. crucifixion, Jewish involvement in putting him to death, burial, resurrection, seen by Peter, James,
1395-689: A first resurrection appearance to James, the brother of Jesus , showing high regard for James as the leader of the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem . It was probably composed in Greek in the first decades of the 2nd century and is believed to have been used by Greek-speaking Jewish Christians in Egypt during that century. The Gospel of the Hebrews is the only Jewish–Christian gospel that
1550-461: A historical event. Eddy and Boyd state that it is now firmly established that there is non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesus – referring to the mentions in Josephus and Tacitus. Most scholars in the third quest for the historical Jesus consider the crucifixion indisputable, as do Bart Ehrman, John Dominic Crossan and James Dunn. Although scholars agree on
1705-476: A majority ... thought a saying authentic or probably authentic, the 'weighted average' turned out to be 'probably inauthentic'. A voting system that produces a result like this ought to be scrapped." Casey sums up the voting process stating, "In practice, this meant an averaged majority vote by people who were not in any reasonable sense authorities at all." Howard Clark Kee , Professor of Biblical Studies Emeritus at Boston University School of Theology , writing in
SECTION 10
#17327653892901860-566: A monstrosity: a Jesus who never said, thought, or did anything that other Jews said, thought, or did, and a Jesus who had no connection or relationship to what his followers said, thought, or did in reference to him after he died." J. Ed Komoszewski and co-authors state that the Jesus Seminar's "Criteria for In/Authenticity" creates "an eccentric Jesus who learned nothing from his own culture and made no impact on his followers". The same criticism has been made by Craig Evans. Casey criticizes
2015-581: A non-canonical gospel in Alexandria which may have been the Gospel of the Hebrews. The theology of the gospel is strongly influenced by Jewish–Christian wisdom teaching. The Holy Spirit is represented as a manifestation of Divine Wisdom who is called "Mother". The feminine aspect of the Spirit is an indication of Semitic influence on the language of the gospel. The Spirit takes Jesus to Mount Tabor by
2170-407: A number of new techniques, but faded away in the 1970s. In the 1980s a number of scholars gradually began to introduce new research ideas, initiating a third quest characterized by the latest research approaches. One of the modern aspects of the third quest has been the role of archaeology; James Charlesworth states that modern scholars now want to use archaeological discoveries that clarify
2325-652: A particular saying or story is authentic, including the criteria of multiple attestation and embarrassment . Among additional criteria used by the fellows are the following: The Seminar looked for several characteristics that, in their judgment, identified a saying as inauthentic, including self-reference, leadership issues, and apocalyptic themes. The Jesus Seminar rated various beatitudes as red, pink, gray, and black. Three beatitudes are judged to be "paradoxical" and are doubly attested. They are rated red (authentic) as they appear in Luke 6:20–21. The Seminar fellows decided
2480-456: A proof from prophecy based on Isaiah 11:2 to explain how Jesus was the fulfillment of messianic expectations. The Gospel of the Hebrews was excluded from the canon by the early Church with the closing of the New Testament canon at the end of the 4th century, and was no longer cited as a source in Church literature. Subsequent to the closing of the canon, the gospel is mentioned in a homily "On
2635-469: A reference to Jesus' miracles as "black magic" learned when he lived in Egypt (as a toddler). Ehrman writes that few contemporary scholars treat this as historical. There is only one classical writer who refers positively to Jesus and that is Mara bar Serapion , a Syriac Stoic, who wrote a letter to his son, who was also named Serapion, from a Roman prison. He speaks of the execution of 'the wise king of
2790-541: A response from "the father of historical critical research" Johann Semler in 1779, Beantwortung der Fragmente eines Ungenannten ( Answering the Fragments of an Unknown ). Semler refuted Reimarus' arguments, but it was of little consequence. Reimarus' writings had already made lasting changes by making it clear criticism could exist independently of theology and faith, and by founding historical Jesus studies within that non-sectarian view. According to Homer W. Smith ,
2945-552: A series of lectures and workshops in various U.S. cities. The work of The Jesus Seminar continued after the death of its founder (2005) and was succeeded by two seminars: The Seminar on God and the Human Future and The Christianity Seminar. The latter published its first report in 2022, After Jesus Before Christianity: A Historical Exploration of the First Two Centuries of Jesus Movement s. The seminars are
3100-601: A single hair, echoing Old Testament themes in the stories of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:3) and Habbakuk (Dan. 14:36 LXX ). The gospel emphasizes the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 11:2 in Jesus' baptism, but also adopts elements of Jewish Wisdom theology. The Spirit has been gathered in one place at the moment of Jesus' baptism, so that he has become the only Son of the Spirit in which he has found eternal "rest" and reigns forever. The "seek–find" and "rule–rest" language also comes from Jewish Wisdom tradition as stages on
3255-437: A sketch or model which may inform about but never will be the real Jesus of history; similar to how models exist in the natural sciences that inform about phenomena without specifying a particular object. W.R. Herzog has stated that: "What we call the historical Jesus is the composite of the recoverable bits and pieces of historical information and speculation about him that we assemble, construct, and reconstruct. For this reason,
SECTION 20
#17327653892903410-661: A story he found in the writings of Papias is believed to refer to an alternate version of the account in John's gospel of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery . [Fragment b2] It is related in some gospels that a woman was condemned by the Jews because of a sin and was taken to the customary place of stoning, in order that she might be stoned. We are told that when the Savior caught sight of her and saw that they were ready to stone her, he said to those who wanted to throw stones at her: Let
3565-485: A team of scholars (who expounded papers for the review of other Fellows and published many in Forum ) and as explained in the book The Five Gospels (the four canonical gospels plus the Gospel of Thomas ), involved canvassing the records of the first four centuries for traditions about Jesus and sifting them by criteria such as multiple attestation , distinctiveness, and orality . The Five Gospels lists seven bases for
3720-413: A true flaw in the historical logic of the criteria. According to Tucker Ferda, "...criticisms of the criteria have sometimes produced rather grandiose claims about their "uselessness," which do not seem justified when one looks at the kind of argument that those same critics will use when making positive claims about the historical Jesus...criticisms of the notion of "authenticity" or "historicity" can create
3875-498: Is a "chain-saying", seek–find–marvel–reign–rest, describing the steps towards salvation, where "rest" equals the state of salvation. The saying is similar to themes found in Jewish Wisdom literature, and the similarity to a saying in the Gospel of Thomas suggests that the text may have been influenced by gnostic Wisdom teaching. [Fragment 5] And never be ye joyful, save when ye behold your brother with love. [Fragment 6] In
4030-462: Is a figment of the Church's imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that anymore." The New Testament represents sources that have become canonical for Christianity, and there are many apocryphal texts that are examples of the wide variety of writings in the first centuries AD that are related to Jesus. Non-Christian sources that are used to study and establish
4185-451: Is a self-indulgent charade ." William Lane Craig argues that the principal presuppositions of scientific naturalism, the primacy of the apocryphal gospels, and the necessity of a politically correct Jesus are unjustified and issue in a distorted portrait of the historical Jesus. Raymond Brown likewise avers that the Seminar "operated to a remarkable degree on a priori principles, some of them reflecting antisupernatural bias. For instance,
4340-527: Is broad scholarly consensus that we can best find access to the historical Jesus through the Synoptic tradition." Bart D. Ehrman adds: "To dismiss the Gospels from the historical record is neither fair nor scholarly." One book argues that if Jesus did not exist, "the origin of the faith of the early Christians remains a perplexing mystery." Eddy and Boyd say the best history can assert is probability, yet
4495-470: Is little scholarly agreement on a single portrait, or the methods needed to construct it. There are, however, overlapping attributes among the various portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others. The conception of a "Historical Jesus" is limited to the abductions from modern scholars on the sources and the results can only produce fragments of what the "real Jesus" or "Jesus of history" may have been. Such conceptions are merely
4650-404: Is little scholarly agreement on the portraits, or the methods used in constructing them. But according to Theissen and Merz, writing in 1996, while the noneschatological Jesus is a significant trend in contemporary research into the historical Jesus, most scholars affirm the traditional view that Jesus prophesied the imminent end of the world. Since the 1990s, however, other scholars have pointed out
4805-460: Is lost, with only fragments of it surviving as brief quotations by the early Church Fathers and in apocryphal writings. The fragments contain traditions of Jesus' pre-existence , incarnation , baptism , and probably of his temptation , along with some of his sayings . Distinctive features include a Christology characterized by the belief that the Holy Spirit is Jesus' Divine Mother and
Jesus Seminar - Misplaced Pages Continue
4960-570: Is more or less likely to be historical. These criteria are primarily, though not exclusively, used to assess the sayings and actions of Jesus. In view of the skepticism produced in the mid-twentieth century by form criticism concerning the historical reliability of the gospels, the burden shifted in historical Jesus studies from attempting to identify an authentic life of Jesus to attempting to prove authenticity. The criteria developed within this framework, therefore, are tools that provide arguments solely for authenticity, not inauthenticity. In 1901,
5115-572: Is no means by which certainty can be established concerning this or any of the other lost references, partial references, and questionable references that mention some aspect of Jesus' life or death, but in evaluating evidence, it is appropriate to note they exist. There are two passages in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus , and one from the Roman historian Tacitus , that are generally considered good evidence. Josephus' Antiquities of
5270-472: Is not dependent on a source being inerrant or void of agendas since there are sources that are considered generally reliable despite having such traits (e.g. Josephus). The question of reliability is a matter of ongoing debate. Historians subject the gospels to critical analysis by differentiating authentic, reliable information from possible inventions, exaggerations, and alterations. Since there are more textual variants (200,000–400,000) than words in
5425-589: Is not only to be understood as the ultimate goal of the seeker after truth, which leads to salvation; it is also descriptive of a unity with the wisdom which lies at the heart of the Godhead. The "resting" of the Holy Spirit at the moment of Jesus' Baptism may also be understood in this timeless sense, as the union and rest of the pre-existent Son with his Father, in keeping with the Gnostic conception of "rest" as
5580-419: Is not representative of the guild of New Testament historical scholarship today. Rather, it is representative of one voice within that guild, a voice that actually espouses a minority position on some key issues." In the first chapter of his 2010 book Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of his Life and Teaching , Maurice Casey , an irreligious British scholar of the New Testament, criticizes
5735-584: Is that of plausibility, relative to Jesus' Jewish context and to his influence on Christianity. Contemporary scholars of the "third quest" include E. P. Sanders, Géza Vermes, Gerd Theissen, Christoph Burchard, and John Dominic Crossan . In contrast to the Schweitzerian view, certain North American scholars, such as Burton Mack , advocate for a non-eschatological Jesus, one who is more of a Cynic sage than an apocalyptic preacher. Given that Jesus
5890-471: Is the canonical Gospels and, in support of their preferences, attribute this material to more ancient sources. No ancient evidence confirms these theories, but the theories have been welcomed and widely publicized in the popular press. Garry Wills , a vocal proponent of liberal Catholicism, nonetheless strongly critiques the Seminar: This is the new fundamentalism. It believes in the literal sense of
6045-439: Is the proposition that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity and the accounts in the gospels. In the 21st century, there have been a number of books and documentaries on this subject. For example, Earl Doherty has written that Jesus may have been a real person, but that the biblical accounts of him are almost entirely fictional. Many proponents use
6200-400: Is to discover the text's primitive or original meaning in its original historical context and its literal sense. Historical criticism began in the 17th century and gained popular recognition in the 19th and 20th centuries. The historical reliability of the gospels refers to the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. Historical reliability
6355-560: Is too late to be of much use. Ehrman explains that "Jesus is never mentioned in the oldest part of the Talmud, the Mishnah , but appears only in the later commentaries of the Gemara." Jesus is not mentioned by name, but there is a subtle attack on the virgin birth that refers to the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier Pantera (Ehrman says, "In Greek the word for virgin is parthenos" ), and
Jesus Seminar - Misplaced Pages Continue
6510-520: Is who He said He is, and that He rose from the dead." The film aired on Christmas Day 2000 on the PAX-TV network and a number of CBS affiliates. An expanded version of the film, titled "Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?", aired at Easter 2001. The film aired again on "The Coral Ridge Hour" on Palm Sunday, 2005. Similarly, in 2001 John Ankerberg , a Baptist apologist-theologian, host of The John Ankerberg Show, responded with "The Search for Jesus: A Response to
6665-529: The Antilegomena , noting that it was used by "Hebrews" within the Church; it fell out of use when the New Testament canon was codified at the end of the 4th century. The Gospel of the Hebrews, as known to scholars, is thought to have been composed in Greek. The provenance has been associated with Egypt; it probably began circulating in Alexandria, Egypt , in the first decades of the 2nd century and
6820-513: The Ebionites . Scholars have conventionally referred to seven fragments of a Greek gospel harmony preserved in quotations by Epiphanius as the Gospel of the Ebionites. The existence of three independent Jewish–Christian gospels with distinct characteristics has been regarded as an established consensus. However, that conclusion has recently been challenged with respect to the composition of
6975-509: The Gospel of Thomas may have more authentic material than the Gospel of John . The Seminar held a number of premises or "scholarly wisdom" about Jesus when critically approaching the gospels. Members acted on the premise that Jesus did not hold an apocalyptic worldview, an opinion that is controversial in mainstream scholarly studies of Jesus . The Fellows argued that the authentic words of Jesus, rather than revealing an apocalyptic eschatology which instructs his disciples to prepare for
7130-538: The New Testament , "we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned." There is no indication that writers in antiquity who opposed Christianity questioned the existence of Jesus. Since the 1970s, various scholars such as Joachim Jeremias , E. P. Sanders and Gerd Theissen have traced elements of Christianity to currents in first-century Judaism and have discarded nineteenth-century minority views that Jesus
7285-482: The Q source and with the Gospel of Thomas but omitted material in other sources such as the Gospel of the Hebrews , and that they relied excessively on the criterion of embarrassment . The scholars attending sought to reconstruct the life of the historical Jesus . Using a number of tools, they asked who he was, what he did, what he said, and what his sayings meant. Their reconstructions depended on social anthropology , history and textual analysis . The key feature
7440-487: The Wolfenbüttel Fragments after the library where Lessing worked. Reimarus distinguished between what Jesus taught and how he is portrayed in the New Testament. According to Reimarus, Jesus was a political messiah who failed at creating political change and was executed. His disciples then stole the body and invented the story of the resurrection for personal gain. Reimarus' controversial work prompted
7595-633: The early Christians , and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did." According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible," calling into question the methods and aim of the first model. In 2021, James Crossley (editor of the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus ) announced that historical Jesus scholarship now had moved to
7750-470: The historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Jesus was a historical figure , and the idea that Jesus was a mythical figure has been consistently rejected by the scholarly consensus as a fringe theory . Scholars differ about the beliefs and teachings of Jesus as well as the accuracy of the biblical accounts, with only two events being supported by nearly universal scholarly consensus: Jesus
7905-543: The internal evidence of the documents, to see if, for example, a document has misquoted texts from the Hebrew Tanakh , has made incorrect claims about geography, if the author appears to have hidden information, or if the author has fabricated a prophecy. Finally, scholars turn to external sources, including the testimony of early church leaders, to writers outside the church, primarily Jewish and Greco-Roman historians, who would have been more likely to have criticized
SECTION 50
#17327653892908060-836: The pre-existent Redeemer who finally becomes incarnate in Jesus. [Fragment 3] Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away on to the great mountain Tabor. Fragments 2 and 3 identify Jesus as the son of the Holy Spirit; this idea is found also in the Egyptian Coptic Epistle of James, another indication of the Egyptian origin of the gospel. [Fragment 4a] He that marvels shall reign, and he that has reigned shall rest. [Fragment 4b] He that seeks will not rest till he finds; and he that has found shall marvel; and he that has marveled shall reign; and he that has reigned shall rest. Fragment 4
8215-462: The 18th century, the Jesus Seminar addressed them in a unique manner with its consensual research methodology. The Seminar treated the canonical gospels as historical sources that represent Jesus' actual words and deeds as well as elaborations of the early Christian community and of the gospel authors . The Fellows placed the burden of proof on those who advocate any passage's historicity. Unconcerned with canonical boundaries, they asserted that
8370-527: The ABC, NBC, CNN Specials about Jesus". The program featured biblical scholars Craig Blomberg , Gary Habermas , and N.T. Wright as well as philosopher-theologian William Lane Craig and Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay . Historical Jesus The term " historical Jesus " refers to the life and teachings of Jesus as interpreted through critical historical methods , in contrast to what are traditionally religious interpretations . It also considers
8525-549: The Apostles when studying the reliability of the gospels, as the Book of Acts was seemingly written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke. In addition to biblical sources, there are a number of mentions of Jesus in non-Christian sources. Biblical scholar Frederick Fyvie Bruce says the earliest mention of Jesus outside the New Testament occurs c. 55 AD from a historian named Thallos . Thallos' history, like
8680-520: The Baptist as authentic. One of the arguments in favor of the historicity of the Baptism of Jesus by John is the criterion of embarrassment , i.e. that it is a story which the early Christian Church would have never wanted to invent, as it implies that Jesus was subservient to John. Another argument used in favour of the historicity of the baptism is that multiple accounts refer to it, usually called
8835-472: The Bible (1997) and citing Helmut Koester and John Dominic Crossan as examples, states: Some scholars have advanced the theory that these so-called apocryphal gospels actually include texts and traditions that are older and more reliable than those in the canonical New Testament writings. ... These opinions are purely circular arguments, since the investigators have found material which they prefer to what
8990-594: The Bible—it just reduces to what it can take as literal quotation from Jesus. Though some have called the Jesus Seminarists radical, they are actually very conservative. They tame the real, radical, Jesus, cutting him down to their own size...the sayings that meet with the Seminar's approval were preserved by the Christian communities whose contribution is discounted. Jesus as a person does not exist outside of
9145-541: The Blind – relied directly on the gospel to provide prooftexts as a supplement to the canonical gospels. Clement quoted from the gospel as part of a discourse on divine Wisdom. Origen used it to compare differing views of the relationship between the Word and the Holy Spirit. Jerome claimed to have used the gospel as a prooftext, although he may have relied in part on excerpts from the commentaries of Origen. He quoted from it as
9300-509: The Christian origins narrative. The scholarly effort to reconstruct an "authentic" historical picture of Jesus was a product of the Enlightenment skepticism of the late eighteenth century. Bible scholar Gerd Theissen explains that "It was concerned with presenting a historically true life of Jesus that functioned theologically as a critical force over against [established Roman Catholic] Christology." The first scholar to separate
9455-486: The Church Fathers referred to by name, believing there was only one Hebrew Gospel, perhaps in different versions. This has created confusion as modern scholars believe that the Church Fathers were, in reality, quoting three different gospels. All are known today only from fragments preserved in quotations by the early Church Fathers. Modern scholars have given these three different gospels the working name Gospel of
SECTION 60
#17327653892909610-407: The Church Fathers. The translations below are from Vielhauer & Strecker (1991), except "b2" which is from Klauck (2003): [Fragment a] (Scripture) seems to call Matthew "Levi" in the Gospel of Luke. Yet it is not a question of one and the same person. Rather Matthias, who was installed (as apostle) in place of Judas, and Levi are the same person with a double name. This is clear from the Gospel of
9765-461: The Gospel according to the Hebrews...there is counted among the most grievous offenses: He that has grieved the spirit of his brother. Fragments 5 (on Ephesians 5.4) and 6 (on Ezekiel 18.7) are ethical sayings of Jesus, suggesting that such teachings formed a significant part of the gospel. [Fragment 7] The Gospel according to the Hebrews...records after the resurrection: And when the Lord had given
9920-415: The Gospels, he was a contemporary of Jesus and does make it clear that he considers Jesus to have been a real person and a Jew. Moreover, he claims to have met with James , the brother of Jesus. Paul states that he personally knew and interacted with eyewitnesses of Jesus such as his most intimate disciples (Peter and John) and family members (his brother James) starting around 35 or 36 AD, within just
10075-481: The Greek rendition of the Gospel of Matthew or the other canonical gospels of what is now orthodox Christianity. Instead, it seems to be taken from alternative oral forms of the same underlying traditions. Some of the fragments suggest a syncretic gnostic influence, while others support close ties to traditional Jewish Wisdom literature . The Gospel of the Hebrews is preserved in fragments quoted or summarized by various early Church Fathers. The full extent of
10230-571: The Hebrews, the Gospel of the Nazarenes , and the Gospel of the Ebionites . Passages from the gospel of the Hebrews were quoted or summarized by three Alexandrian Fathers – Clement , Origen and Didymus the Blind ; it was also quoted by Jerome , either directly or through the commentaries of Origen. The gospel was used as a supplement to the canonical gospels to provide source material for their commentaries based on scripture. Eusebius included it in his list of disputed writings known as
10385-422: The Hebrews. The summary of a gospel passage identifies Mattias , (which is the Greek form of Matthew, from Hebrew Matityahu, meaning "gift of God") as the name of the tax-collector who was called to follow Jesus. [Fragment b1] And he (Papias) has adduced another story of a woman who was accused of many sins before the Lord, which is contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. The citation by Eusebius of
10540-471: The Jesus Seminar include Richard Hays , Ben Witherington , Greg Boyd , N.T. Wright , William Lane Craig , Luke Timothy Johnson , Craig A. Evans , Paul Barnett , Michael F. Bird , Craig Blomberg , Markus Bockmuehl , Raymond Brown , James D.G. Dunn , Howard Clark Kee , John P. Meier , Graham Stanton , Darrell Bock , and Edwin Yamauchi . Jesuit theologian Gerald O'Collins has been critical of
10695-618: The Jews , written around AD 93–94, includes two references to the biblical Jesus in Books 18 and 20 . The general scholarly view is that while the longer passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum , is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it is broadly agreed upon that it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus, which was then subject to Christian interpolation. Of the other mention in Josephus, Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman has stated that "few have doubted
10850-460: The Jews ' and compares his death to that of Socrates at the hands of the Athenians. He links the death of the 'wise king' to the Jews being driven from their kingdom. He also states that the 'wise king' lives on because of the "new laws he laid down". The dating of the letter is disputed but was probably soon after 73 AD. Scholars such as Robert Van Voorst see little doubt that the reference to
11005-573: The Just and said to him: My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of man is risen from among them that sleep. Fragment 7 emphasizes the importance of James, the brother of Jesus and head of the Jewish–Christian movement in Jerusalem after Jesus' death, thereby testifying to the Jewish character of the community of the gospel. In addition to direct quotations, other gospel stories were summarized or cited by
11160-464: The New Testament, scholars use textual criticism to determine which gospel variants could theoretically be taken as original. To answer this question, scholars have to ask who wrote the gospels , when they wrote them, what was their objective in writing them, what sources the authors used, how reliable these sources were, and how far removed in time the sources were from the stories they narrate, or if they were altered later. Scholars may also look into
11315-495: The Seminar for having not included "some of the best scholars in the USA, such as E. P. Sanders , J. A. Fitzmyer , and Dale Allison ." He states that these glaring omissions were compounded by the fact that many of the supposed "experts" at the Seminar were young, obscure scholars who had only just completed their doctorates . The voting system has been criticized by, among others, N. T. Wright , who says: "I cannot understand how, if
11470-468: The Seminar for placing too much value on the criterion of dissimilarity . For the Seminar, a saying will only be held as authentic if it does not match the beliefs of Judaism or those held by the early Christians. Critics such as Gregory Boyd have noted that the effect of this is that the Jesus of the Seminar shows no continuity with his Jewish context nor his disciples. Raymond Brown has stated that "a rigorous application of such criteria would leave us with
11625-403: The Seminar for the "exaggerated importance which they have attributed to the Gospel of Thomas ", stating, "Their voting was so bizarre that they ended up with more red in the Gospel than in our oldest genuine source, the Gospel of Mark ." Craig Blomberg notes that if the Jesus Seminar's findings are to be believed, then: It requires the assumption that someone, about a generation removed from
11780-413: The Synoptic tradition...are the memories of the first disciples-not Jesus himself, but the remembered Jesus. The idea that we can get back to an objective historical reality, which we can wholly separate and disentangle from the disciples' memories...is simply unrealistic." According to Chris Keith, a historical Jesus is "ultimately unattainable, but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of
11935-512: The Virgin Mary" attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem in a collection of apocryphal stories believed to have been written in Coptic in the first half of the 6th century. The author (known to scholars as Pseudo-Cyril) refers to the Gospel of the Hebrews in a polemical dialogue between a monk and Cyril over the nature of Mary, whom the monk contends was a divine power sent from heaven. Cyril condemns
12090-493: The application of criteria of authenticity began with dissimilarity. It was often applied unevenly with a preconceived goal. In the early decades of the twentieth century, F. C. Burkitt and B. H. Streeter provided the foundation for multiple attestation. The Second Quest introduced the criterion of embarrassment . By the 1950s, coherence was also included. By 1987, D. Polkow lists 25 separate criteria being used by scholars to test for historical authenticity including
12245-474: The attempt to establish the historical validity of their conclusions. According to Tucker Ferda, it is by now "conventional wisdom that the traditional threefold division of the quest for Jesus [...] is flawed". The threefold terminology uses the literature selectively, poses an incorrect periodization of research, and fails to note that the quest did not begin with Reimarus, as Albert Schweitzer had claimed, but started earlier, with critical questions regarding
12400-406: The beatitude for those persecuted in Jesus' name might trace back to Jesus as a beatitude for those who suffer, but concluded that in its final form the saying represents concerns of the Christian community rather than Jesus' message. Thus it received a gray rating. Matthew's version of the three authentic beatitudes were rated pink. The author has spiritualized two of them, so that they now refer to
12555-413: The biblical accounts of Jesus, but almost all modern scholars consider his baptism and crucifixion to be historical facts. The existence of John the Baptist within the same time frame as Jesus, and his eventual execution by Herod Antipas is attested to by 1st-century Roman-Jewish historian Josephus and the overwhelming majority of modern scholars view Josephus' accounts of the activities of John
12710-420: The biblical material during the oral period before it was written in its current form, and may be seen as starting where textual criticism ends. Form criticism views Gospel writers as editors, not authors. Redaction criticism may be viewed as the child of source criticism and form criticism. and views the Gospel writers as authors and early theologians and tries to understand how the redactor(s) has (have) molded
12865-528: The bodily resurrection had no real chance of being accepted as having taken place. ... Again, almost as a principle, the eschatological character of Jesus' ministry has been dismissed..." Dale Allison of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary , in his 1998 book Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet , cited what he felt were problems with the work of (particularly) John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg , arguing that their conclusions were at least in part predetermined by their theological positions. He also pointed out
13020-522: The canonical gospels that unreasonably assumes that "Jesus' contemporaries (that is, the first generation of his movement) were either incapable of remembering or uninterested in recalling accurately what Jesus said and did, and in passing it on" while, in contrast, privileging extra-canonical texts with an uncritical acceptance that sometimes rises to the level of special pleading . Howard Clark Kee , writing in The Cambridge Companion to
13175-573: The church, and to archaeological evidence. Conventionaly since the 18th century, three scholarly quests for the historical Jesus are distinguished, each with distinct characteristics and based on different research criteria, which were often developed during each specific phase. These quests are distinguished from pre-Enlightenment approaches because they rely on the historical-critical method to study biblical narratives. While textual analysis of biblical sources had taken place for centuries, these quests introduced new methods and specific techniques in
13330-435: The church." Luke Timothy Johnson , a historian of the origins of Christianity, argued that while some members of the seminar are reputable scholars (Borg, Crossan, Funk, others), others are relatively unknown or undistinguished in the field of biblical studies. One member, Paul Verhoeven , holds no Ph.D. but a M.Sc. in mathematics and physics, not biblical studies, and is best known as a film director . Johnson also critiqued
13485-536: The color of which represented the degree of confidence that a saying or act was or was not authentic: A confidence value was determined from the voting using a weighted average of the points given for each bead; the text was color-coded from red to black (with the same significance as the bead colors) according to the outcome of the voting. The Jesus Seminar treats the gospels as fallible historical artifacts, containing both authentic and inauthentic material. The Seminar fellows used several criteria for determining whether
13640-690: The complexity of apocalypticism within Second Temple Judaism , and grant that Jesus did make "apocalyptic" predictions, but in relation to the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, and not the end of the world. The Seminar began by translating the gospels into modern American English , producing what they call the "Scholars Version", first published in The Complete Gospels . This translation uses current colloquialisms and contemporary phrasing in an effort to provide
13795-460: The criterion of multiple attestation . Technically, multiple attestation does not guarantee authenticity, but only determines antiquity. However, for most scholars, together with the criterion of embarrassment it lends credibility to the baptism of Jesus by John being a historical event. John P. Meier views the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical fact and states that based on the criterion of embarrassment , Christians would not have invented
13950-407: The criterion of "historical plausibility". A number of scholars have criticized the various approaches used in the study of the historical Jesus—on one hand, for the lack of rigor in research methods; on the other, for being driven by "specific agendas" that interpret ancient sources to fit specific goals. By the 21st century, the " maximalist " approaches of the 19th century, which accepted all
14105-476: The criterion of multiple attestation and criterion of dissimilarity – establishes the crucifixion of Jesus as a enemy of state. In addition to the two historical elements of baptism and crucifixion, scholars attribute varying levels of certainty to various other aspects of the life of Jesus, although there is no universal agreement among scholars on these items: Some scholars have proposed further additional historical possibilities such as: Scholars involved in
14260-414: The earth to men, the good Father summoned a mighty power in heaven, which was called Michael, and entrusted Christ to the care thereof. And the power came into the world and was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months. [Fragment 2] And it came to pass when the Lord was come up out of the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended upon him and rested on him and said to him: My Son, in all
14415-540: The end of the world, indicate that he preached a sapiential eschatology , which encourages all of God's children to repair the world . The methods and conclusions of the Jesus Seminar have come under harsh criticism from numerous biblical scholars, historians and clergy for a variety of reasons. Such critics assert, for example, that the Fellows of the Seminar were not all trained scholars, that their voting technique did not allow for nuance, that they were preoccupied with
14570-598: The era of the Next Quest. The Next Quest has moved on from the criteria, obsessions with the uniqueness of Jesus, and the supersessionism still implicit in scholarly questions of the Jewishness of Jesus. Instead, sober scholarship now focuses on treating the subject matter as part of the wider human phenomenon of religion, cultural comparison, class relations, slave culture and economy, and the social history of historical Jesus scholarship and wider reception histories of
14725-399: The events in question, radically transformed the authentic information about Jesus that was circulating at that time, superimposed a body of material four times as large, fabricated almost entirely out of whole cloth, while the church suffered sufficient collective amnesia to accept the transformation as legitimate. Craig Evans argues that the Jesus Seminar applies a form of hypercriticism to
14880-450: The execution of the "king of the Jews" is about the death of Jesus. Others such as Craig A. Evans see less value in the letter, given its uncertain date, and the ambiguity in the reference. Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". The primary goal of historical criticism
15035-467: The existence of Jesus, agrees that his perspective runs against the views of the majority of scholars. Michael Grant (a classicist and historian) states that "In recent years, no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus, or at any rate very few have, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary." Richard A. Burridge states, "There are those who argue that Jesus
15190-473: The faith, there are just as many—if not more—scholars who hold to a much more conservative position. In response to the airing of a two-hour ABC News documentary titled "The Search for Jesus" in June 2000, which featured Jesus Seminar scholars including Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, Coral Ridge Ministries produced the one-hour documentary "Who Is This Jesus". Hosted by actor Dean Jones and D. James Kennedy,
15345-417: The field of New Testament studies. More than half are basically unknowns, who have published only two or three articles. Eighteen of the fellows have published nothing at all in New Testament studies. Most have relatively undistinguished academic positions, for example, teaching at a community college. Others have made the same point and have further indicated that thirty-six of those scholars, almost half, have
15500-479: The film features ancient history scholar Paul L. Maier , and biblical scholars D.A. Carson , N.T. Wright , Gary Habermas , and Bruce Metzger . Also featured is evangelical apologist Josh McDowell . As Kennedy recalled later, "We featured a wide variety of scholarly viewpoints... We set out to show the ample historical evidence that the Gospels are reliable, that the New Testament is the best-attested book in antiquity in quantity and quality of manuscripts, that Jesus
15655-469: The first quest diminished after Albert Schweitzer 's critique of 1906 in which he pointed out various shortcomings in the approaches used at the time. After Schweitzer's Von Reimarus zu Wrede was translated and published in English as The Quest of the Historical Jesus in 1910, the book's title provided the label for the field of study for eighty years. The second quest began in 1953 and introduced
15810-472: The followers of each portrait. The subsections below present the main portraits that are supported by multiple mainstream scholars. Gospel of the Hebrews The Gospel of the Hebrews ( Koinē Greek : τὸ καθ' Ἑβραίους εὐαγγέλιον , romanized: tò kath' Hebraíous euangélion ), or Gospel according to the Hebrews , is a lost Jewish–Christian gospel . The text of the gospel
15965-610: The genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in Antiquities 20, 9, 1 ("the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James"). Paul references meeting and interacting with James, Jesus' brother, and since this agreement between the different sources supports Josephus' statement, the statement is only disputed by a small number of scholars. Roman historian Tacitus referred to "Christus" and his execution by Pontius Pilate in his Annals (written c. AD 116), book 15, chapter 44 . Robert E. Van Voorst states that
16120-598: The gospel accounts. Such portraits include that of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet , charismatic healer, Cynic philosopher, Jewish messiah , prophet of social change, and rabbi . There is little scholarly agreement on a single portrait, nor the methods needed to construct it, but there are overlapping attributes among the various portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed. Historian Michael Grant asserts that if conventional standards of historical criticism are applied to
16275-456: The gospel used by a Jewish Christian sect known as the Nazarenes . The Gospel of the Nazarenes is the name adopted by scholars to describe the fragments of quotations believed to originate from an Aramaic gospel that was based on traditions similar to the Gospel of Matthew. A third gospel was known only to Epiphanius of Salamis , which he attributed to a second Jewish Christian group known as
16430-433: The gospels, and the " minimalist " trends of the early 20th century, which totally rejected them, were abandoned and scholars began to focus on what is historically probable and plausible about Jesus. There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings. Scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in
16585-589: The gospels, and the only reason he exists there is because of their authors' faith in the Resurrection. Trying to find a construct, "the historical Jesus," is not like finding diamonds in a dunghill, but like finding New York City at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. In addition to scholarly critiques, a number of conservative Christian organizations were critical of the Jesus Seminar. D. James Kennedy , senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church ,
16740-555: The highest gift of salvation. Eusebius listed the Gospel of the Hebrews in his Antilegomena as one of the disputed writings of the early Church . Despite this, the Church Fathers occasionally used it, with reservations, as a source to support their exegetical arguments. Eusebius reports that the 2nd century Church Father Hegesippus used the gospel as a source for writing his Hypomneumata ("Memoranda") in Rome (c. 175–180). The Alexandrian Fathers – Clement, Origen, and Didymus
16895-569: The historical Jesus from the theological Jesus in this way was philosopher, writer, classicist, Hebraist and Enlightenment free thinker Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768). Copies of Reimarus' writings were discovered by G. E. Lessing (1729–1781) in the library at Wolfenbüttel where Lessing was the librarian. Reimarus had left permission for his work to be published after his death, and Lessing did so between 1774 and 1778, publishing them as Die Fragmente eines unbekannten Autors ( The Fragments of an Unknown Author ). Over time, they came to be known as
17050-511: The historical Jesus is, in Meier's words, 'a modern abstraction and construct.'" Contemporary scholarship, representing the "third quest" and the "next quest" places Jesus firmly in the Jewish tradition. Jesus was a Jewish preacher who taught that he was the path to salvation , everlasting life, and the Kingdom of God. A primary criterion used to discern historical details in the "third quest"
17205-464: The historical Jesus. The book by Crossley and Robert J. Myles, Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict , is indicative of this new tendency. Others have criticized claims of a Fourth Quest and had a more measured response to critique of the criteria. The actual problem is arguably that critics use them inappropriately, trying to describe the history of minute portions of the Gospel text, rather than
17360-458: The historical writings associated with the era in which Jesus lived or on the evidence concerning his family. By the end of the twentieth century, scholar Tom Holmén writes that Enlightenment skepticism had given way to a more "trustful attitude toward the historical reliability of the sources ... [Currently] the conviction of Sanders, (we know quite a lot about Jesus) characterizes the majority of contemporary studies." Reflecting this shift,
17515-514: The historicity of Jesus include Jewish sources such as Josephus , and Roman sources such as Tacitus . The Pauline epistles are dated to between AD 50 and 60 ( i.e. , approximately twenty to thirty years after the generally accepted time period for the death of Jesus), and are the earliest surviving Christian texts that include information about Jesus. Although Paul the Apostle provides little biographical information about Jesus compared to
17670-441: The historicity of the crucifixion, they differ on the reason and context for it, e.g. both E. P. Sanders and Paula Fredriksen support the historicity of the crucifixion, but contend that Jesus did not foretell his own crucifixion, and that his prediction of the crucifixion is a Christian story. Géza Vermes also views the crucifixion as a historical event but believes this was due to Jesus’ challenging of Roman authority. On
17825-403: The imminent end of the world has disappeared", and identifies two reasons for this change: The apocalyptic elements attributed to Jesus, according to The Five Gospels , come from John the Baptist and the early Christian community (p. 4). Scholars involved in the third and next quests for the historical Jesus have constructed a variety of portraits and profiles for Jesus. However, there
17980-405: The impression that there is more disagreement with earlier research than is actually the case." The first quest , which started in 1778, was almost entirely based on biblical criticism . This took the form of textual and source criticism originally, which were supplemented with form criticism in 1919, and redaction criticism in 1948. Form criticism began as an attempt to trace the history of
18135-672: The journal Theology Today stated, "the conclusions reached by these scholars are inherent in the presuppositions and methods they have chosen to adopt from the outset." Luke Timothy Johnson of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University , in his 1996 book The Real Jesus , voiced concerns with the seminar's work. He criticized the techniques of the Seminar, believing them to be far more limited for historical reconstruction than seminar members believe. Their conclusions were "already determined ahead of time," Johnson says, which "is not responsible, or even critical scholarship. It
18290-469: The language of the gospels, while they themselves have tried to preserve each author's distinct voice. The first findings of the Jesus Seminar were published in 1993 as The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus . The Fellows used a voting system to evaluate the authenticity of about 500 statements and events. For certain high-profile passages the votes were embodied in beads,
18445-456: The life of Jesus than the Synoptic Gospels. As James Crossley and Robert J. Myles explain, John "is of limited use for reconstructing the life of the historical Jesus." However, since the third quest, John's gospel is seen as having more reliability than previously thought or is sometimes seen as even more reliable than the synoptics. For example, certain sayings in John are as old as or older than their synoptic counterparts, his representation of
18600-423: The limitations of their presumptions and methodology. Allison argued that despite the conclusions of the seminar, Jesus was a prophetic figure focused to a large extent on apocalyptic thinking. Several Bible scholars (for example Bart D. Ehrman , an agnostic, and Paula Fredriksen , a Jew) have reasserted Albert Schweitzer 's eschatological view of Jesus. Casey argues that the Jesus Seminar's fundamental social goal
18755-402: The linen cloth to the servant of the priest, he went to James and appeared to him. For James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the cup of the Lord until he should see him risen from among them that sleep. And shortly thereafter the Lord said: Bring a table and bread! And immediately it is added: He took the bread, blessed it and brake it and gave it to James
18910-498: The material for this book, they voted on the individual acts of Jesus as recorded in the gospels, much as they had previously voted on the individual sayings attributed to him. According to the Jesus Seminar: The Jesus Seminar has come under intense criticism regarding its method, assumptions and conclusions from a wide array of scholars and laymen. Scholars who have expressed concerns with the work of
19065-409: The methods and conclusions of the Jesus Seminar with particular attention to Christological ramifications. Lutheran theologian Carl Braaten has been sharply critical, saying "The Jesus Seminar is the latest example of a pseudo-scientific approach that is 'dogmatically' opposed to basic Christian dogmas, popularizing in the public mind Harnack's view that an unbridgeable gulf exists between Jesus and
19220-417: The modern critical scholarship of Jesus, claiming these "pillars" have developed since the end of the 18th century: The Five Gospels says that the non-apocalyptic view of the historical Jesus gained ground in the 1970s and 1980s when research into Jesus shifted out of religious environments and into secular academia. Marcus Borg says "the old consensus that Jesus was an eschatological prophet who proclaimed
19375-409: The monk's teaching as a heresy, which the author attributes to Carpocrates , Satornilus , and Ebionites . Not all later mentions of the gospel were polemical; Bede ( c. 673–735 ), after listing some apocryphal gospels rejected by the Church, includes the Gospel of the Hebrews among the "ecclesiastical histories" and refers to its usage by Jerome. The early Church Fathers believed there
19530-440: The narrative to express their own perspectives. When form criticism questioned the historical reliability of the Gospels, scholars began looking for other criteria. Taken from other areas of study such as source criticism, the "criteria of authenticity" emerged gradually, becoming a distinct branch of methodology associated with life of Jesus research. The criteria are a variety of rules used to determine if some event or person
19685-485: The nature of life in Galilee and Judea during the time of Jesus. A further characteristic of the third quest has been the interdisciplinary and global nature of its scholarship. While the first two quests were mostly carried out by European Protestant theologians, a modern aspect of the third quest is the worldwide influx of scholars from multiple disciplines. More recently, historicists have focused their attention on
19840-417: The one who has not sinned, lift a stone and throw it. If someone is certain that he has not sinned, let him take a stone and hit her. And no one dared to do so. When they examined themselves and they recognized that they too bore responsibility for certain actions, they did not dare to stone her. Although Didymus does not name his source, he found this independent tradition of the story of the sinful woman in
19995-566: The original gospel is unknown; according to a list of canonical and apocryphal works drawn up in the 9th century, known as the Stichometry of Nicephorus , the gospel was 2,200 lines, just 300 lines shorter than Matthew. Based on the surviving fragments, the overall structure of the gospel appears to have been similar to the canonical ones. It consisted of a narrative of the life of Jesus which included his baptism, temptation, transfiguration , Last Supper , crucifixion , and resurrection. There
20150-418: The other hand, Maurice Casey and John P. Meier state that Jesus did predict his death, and this actually strengthened his followers' belief in his Resurrection. Mara bar Serapion is the only source from the ancient world that mentions the execution of Jesus for the charge of "King of the Jews". Bart Ehrman states that Jesus portrayed himself as the leader of the future Kingdom and that a number of criteria –
20305-410: The painful death of their leader. Meier states that a number of other criteria – the criterion of multiple attestation (i.e., confirmation by more than one source), the criterion of coherence (i.e., that it fits with other historical elements) and the criterion of rejection (i.e., that it is not disputed by ancient sources) – help establish the crucifixion of Jesus as
20460-400: The phrase "quest for the historical Jesus" has largely been replaced by life of Jesus research. Since the late 1900s, concerns have been growing about the usefulness of the criteria of authenticity. According to Le Donne, the usage of such criteria is a form of " positivist historiography ". According to James DG Dunn , "What we actually have in the earliest retellings of what is now
20615-424: The poor "in spirit" and to those who hunger "and thirst for justice." Matthew also includes beatitudes for the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, and peace-makers. These beatitudes have no second attestation, lack irony, and received a black rating. The Jesus Seminar produced a significant number of publications both in the form of journal articles and books published for the general public. Individual members of
20770-484: The probability of Jesus having existed is so high, Ehrman says "virtually all historians and scholars have concluded Jesus did exist as a historical figure." Historian James Dunn writes: "Today nearly all historians, whether Christians or not, accept that Jesus existed". In a 2011 review of the state of modern scholarship, Ehrman wrote: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees." The Christ myth theory
20925-411: The prophets was I waiting for thee that thou shouldest come and I might rest in thee. For thou art my rest; thou art my first-begotten Son that reignest for ever. Fragment 2 uses the language of Jewish Wisdom literature, but applies it to the Holy Spirit : the Spirit has waited through all the prophets for the Son. The "rest" that the Holy Spirit finds in the Son may reflect the Christian gnostic idea of
21080-455: The scholarly program units of Westar Institute. Westar publishes a bi-monthly magazine for the general public, The Fourth R: An Advocate for Religious Literacy. The Jesus Seminar has come under intense criticism regarding its method, assumptions and conclusions from a wide array of scholars and laymen. The Seminar's reconstruction of the historical Jesus portrayed him as an itinerant Hellenistic Jewish sage and faith-healer who preached
21235-620: The seminar also produced, and continue to produce books which draw heavily upon the Seminar's work. The following is a selected sampling of those publications; a complete list of Jesus Seminar publications may be found at the Polebridge Press website, the in-house publisher for the Westar Institute: In 1998 the Jesus Seminar published The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus . To create
21390-430: The seminar for its attempts to gain the attention of the media for the 2000 ABC News program "The Search for Jesus" hosted by news anchor Peter Jennings . Seminar critic William Lane Craig has argued that the self-selected members of the group do not represent the consensus of New Testament scholars. He writes: Of the 74 [scholars] listed in their publication The Five Gospels , only 14 would be leading figures in
21545-576: The third and next quests for the historical Jesus have constructed a variety of portraits and profiles for Jesus. However, there is little scholarly agreement on the portraits, or the methods used in constructing them. The portraits of Jesus that have been constructed in the quest for the historical Jesus have often differed from each other, and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts. These portraits include that of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet , charismatic healer , Cynic philosopher , Jewish Messiah and prophet of social change , but there
21700-458: The topography around Jerusalem is often superior to that of the synoptics, his testimony that Jesus was executed before, rather than on, Passover, might well be more accurate, and his presentation of Jesus in the garden and the prior meeting held by the Jewish authorities are more historically plausible than their synoptic parallels. Historians often study the historical reliability of the Acts of
21855-447: The twelve and others) along with numerous quotations referring to notable teachings and events found in the Gospels. The Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and of the religious movement he founded. These religious gospels – the Gospel of Matthew , the Gospel of Mark , and the Gospel of Luke – recount the life, ministry , crucifixion and resurrection of
22010-542: The vast majority of ancient literature, has been lost but not before it was quoted by Sextus Julius Africanus ( c. 160 – c. 240 AD ), a Christian writer, in his History of the World ( c. 220 ). This book likewise was lost, but not before one of its citations of Thallos was taken up by the Byzantine historian George Syncellus in his Chronicle ( c. 800 ). There
22165-580: The very negative tone of Tacitus' comments on Christians makes the passage extremely unlikely to have been forged by a Christian scribe and the Tacitus reference is now widely accepted as an independent confirmation of Jesus's crucifixion. Other considerations outside Christendom include the possible mentions of Jesus in the Talmud. The Talmud speaks in some detail of the conduct of criminal cases of Israel whose texts were gathered together from 200 to 500 CE. Johann Maier and Bart D. Ehrman argue this material
22320-610: The way to salvation during which the believer is encouraged to emulate divine Wisdom. The "rest" that the Holy Spirit waits for and finally finds in the Son is also found in Gnostic speculations. The wisdom chain-saying which describes the progression of seeking, marveling, and finding salvation, is similar to the Hermetic conception of salvation found in the Alexandrian Corpus Hermeticum . "Rest"
22475-566: The work of Lessing and others culminated in the Protestant theologian David Strauss 's Das Leben Jesu ('The Life of Jesus', 1835), in which Strauss expresses his conclusion that Jesus existed, but that his godship is the result of "a historic nucleus [being] worked over and reshaped into an ideal form by the first Christians under the influence of Old Testament models and the idea of the messiah found in Daniel ." The enthusiasm shown during
22630-415: Was a Galilean Jew and living in a time of messianic and apocalyptic expectations. Some scholars credit the apocalyptic declarations of the gospels to him, while others portray his " Kingdom of God " as a moral one , and not apocalyptic in nature. The portraits of Jesus that have been constructed through history using these processes have often differed from each other, and from the image portrayed in
22785-516: Was baptized and Jesus was crucified . Reconstructions of the historical Jesus are based on the Pauline epistles and the gospels , while several non-biblical sources also support his historical existence. Since the 18th century, three separate scholarly quests for the historical Jesus have taken place, each with distinct characteristics and developing new and different research criteria. Historical Jesus scholars typically contend that he
22940-630: Was based on previous pagan deities. Mentions of Jesus in extra-biblical texts exist and are supported as genuine by the majority of historians. Differences between the content of the Jewish Messianic prophecies and the life of Jesus undermine the idea that Jesus was invented as a Jewish Midrash or Peshar. The presence of details of Jesus' life in Paul, and the differences between letters and Gospels, are sufficient for most scholars to dismiss mythicist claims concerning Paul. Theissen says "there
23095-435: Was critical of the Jesus Seminar and John Dominic Crossan, writing in his 1996 book The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail : Doesn't it seem like its open season on Christians—and even Christ—these days? The character of the only perfect human being to ever live is being dragged through the mud by those with the respectability of a degree behind their names ... While there are liberal Bible scholars who deny some or many tenets of
23250-528: Was no virgin birth narrative or geneology of Jesus. The gospel also contained sayings of Jesus. The events in the life of Jesus have been interpreted in a way that reflects Jewish ideas present in a Hellenistic cultural environment. There is wide agreement about seven quotations cited by Philipp Vielhauer in the critical 3rd German edition of Wilhelm Schneemelcher 's New Testament Apocrypha , translated by George Ogg. The translations below follow Vielhauer's order: [Fragment 1] When Christ wished to come upon
23405-467: Was not to construct an accurate portrait of the historical Jesus, but rather to create "a figure whom [the Fellows of the Seminar] are happy with". In particular, the fellows of the Seminar have removed "the apocalyptic and eschatological concerns which characterize American fundamentalism" and remade Jesus as "a cynic philosopher, which suits their intellectual ambiance". Numerous scholars have criticized
23560-438: Was only one Jewish–Christian gospel, perhaps in different versions; however, scholars have long recognized the possibility there were at least two or three. Jerome's references to a Gospel of the Hebrews, or variants of that name, are particularly problematic because it is unclear which gospel he is referring to as the source of his quotations. Hegesippus, Eusebius, and Jerome all used an Aramaic gospel, which Jerome referred to as
23715-487: Was poor, long-established historiographical approaches associated with the study of the poor in the past, such as microhistory , are relevant to the study of his life. Despite the significant differences among scholars on what constitutes a suitable portrait for Jesus, the mainstream views supported by a number of scholars may be grouped together based on certain distinct, primary themes. These portraits often include overlapping elements, and there are also differences among
23870-431: Was the rejection of apocalyptic eschatology . They used cross-cultural anthropological studies to set the general background, narrow in on the history and society of first-century Palestine , and used textual analysis (along with more anthropology and history) to focus on Jesus himself. They used a combination of primary sources , secondary sources , and archaeological evidence. Their methodology , as developed by
24025-484: Was used by Greek-speaking Jewish–Christian communities there. The communities to which they belonged were traditional, conservative Christians who followed the teaching of the early Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem, integrating their understanding of Jesus with strict observance of Jewish customs and law, which they regarded as essential to salvation. Despite this, the gospel displays no connection with other Jewish–Christian literature, nor does it appear to be based on
#289710