Thursday, June 24, 2010

Beware of the beads



In modern historical times, some have interpreted the person of Jesus differently. The real liberal scholarship concerning new interpretations was birthed during the enlightenment, with many of the new liberal interpretations coming from Germany. One of the present day groups, that is not in the mainstream of historical scholars is called, "The Jesus Seminar." The seminar group fashions itself as a scholarly group of individuals, when in reality they have few that qualify as scholars concerning the historical Jesus. The seminar group is just another liberal group with an agenda to push. They have gained much attention through the media, with various presentations in the past on Jesus through the "Public Broadcasting Station."

The two primary points that the seminar push to counter the historical Jesus revolve around the divinity of Jesus and miracles. The seminar absolutely will not accept the divinity of Jesus or miraculous claims, therefore, much of the New Testament is thrown out, especially the four gospels. The seminar has devised a scheme for how to handle the truthfulness (according to them) of the four gospel accounts. A red bead represents what Jesus actually said. A pink bead means Jesus probably said it. Grey means that Jesus did not say this, but it is close to what Jesus said, and black means that this was not said by Jesus, but was a later addition. When all is said and done by way of the Jesus Seminar, the four gospels only account for 20% of what can actually be trusted.

"The Jesus Seminar" represents another modern day attempt to fashion Jesus into an image they happen to like. Clearly an agenda is in mind concerning the "Jesus Seminar." The seminar group is willing to accept ideas that didn't develop until over a 1000 years after the gospel accounts. Not only that, but, the seminar is willing to accept many of the Gnostic writings which were clearly not written during the apostolic period. In other words, these later writings that the seminar prefer were written well after the 1st century. "The Jesus Seminar's" unorthodox view of the divinity of Jesus and his miracle working ability show they want to fashion a Jesus of their own liking. The seminar group is not interested in truth and has little credibility when it comes to the Jesus of history. Beware of the beads of deception.


  • Excellent article detailing the main points and players of the Jesus Seminar.
  • Debate between William Lane Craig and Marcus Borg (of the Jesus Seminar) concerning the resurrection of Jesus.
  • Article dealing with recent interpretations of the resurrection of Jesus.

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