N.T. Wright on the Jesus Seminar

Part Five in the Crisis magazine series, "Deliver us from the Jesus Seminar," is by the prolific Anglican Bible scholar, the N.T. Wright, a priest of the Church of England and canon theologian of Westminster Abbey. Wright is the author of numerous books in the field of scriptural studies. Most recently, these include The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue (2006), Paul: In Fresh Perspective (2006), and The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture (2005). His article, "Setting Scholars Straight about the Bible" (Jesus Seminar Critically Examined, March 6, 2007), was originally published in Crisis magazine (June 2000), and is reproduced here by permission of the editor.

Wright's article offers a brilliant, concise analysis of fundamental problems of the Jesus Seminar. These include problems of (1) de-contextualizing Jesus from the prevailing historical narrative of his time, (2) taking Jesus out of his own proper Jewish apocalyptic worldview, (3) taking Jesus out of the context of first-century messianic movements, (4) attempting to reinvent a wandering cynic teacher, (5) the problem of a "noncontroversial Jewish Jesus" who is neither comprehensible nor crucifiable within first-century Judaism, (6) a new powerful myth of origins envisioning Jesus as a type of cynic teacher, and (7) the difficulty of integrating reconstructions of Jesus' public career with His death and resurrection. Moreover, Wright summarizes his own constructive suggestions in the second half of the article. His article, again, can be found here: "Setting Scholars Straight about the Bible" (Jesus Seminar Critically Examined, March 6, 2007). Enjoy.