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.

"Funding of the Jesus Seminar"

Part Four of the Crisis magazine series on the Jesus Seminar examines the "Funding of the Jesus Seminar" (Jesus Seminar Critically Examined, February 17, 2007). John Burger, currently of the National Catholic Register, wrote the piece as an investigative reporter while working for Catholic New York, the Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of New York. Burger turned up some interesting details, facts, and figures you might find interesting.

Part Three on the Jesus Seminar

Part Three in the Crisis magazine series "Deliver us from the Jesus Seminar" is an article entitled "Biblical Scholarship and the Faith of the Church" (posted with permission at Jesus Seminar Critically Examined, February 8, 2007), by Kenneth D. Whitehead, a writer, editor, translator, and a former US assistant secretary of education.

William R. Farmer's critique of the Jesus Seminar

William R. Farmer, emeritus professor of the New Testament at Southern Methodist University and research scholar at the University of Dallas, is author of Part Two in the Crisis magazine series on the Jesus Seminar. He begins by posing -- and thetically answering -- a decisive question:

The Church canonized only four Gospels; however, Robert Funk, the leader of the Jesus Seminar, wants to add the Gospel of Thomas and the Sayings Gospel Q to our canon. This poses the question: Why did the Church canonize four Gospels and no more? The answer is that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the only Gospels that tell the story of "the flesh and blood martyrdom of the Son of God."

This is the question Farmer explores in detail in his critique of the Jesus Seminar, "Robert Funk & the Jesus Seminar" (Jesus Seminar Critically Examined, January 30, 2007). Farmer's recent publications include The Gospel of Jesus: The Pastoral Relevance of the Synoptic Problem (1994), Anti-Judaism and the Gospels (1999), and The Last Twelve Verses of Mark (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series) (2005).

Blog on Jesus Seminar

I have created a separate blog (Jesus Seminar Critically Examined) devoted to critically examining the Jesus Seminar, including its underlying agenda and assumptions, as well the many disingenuous arguments and conclusions mounted by their adherents. The articles are by no means authored only by me. The first series of articles look at the origin of the Jesus Seminar and are several years old, but are well-worth revisiting. Thus far the blog has online:

• Introducing this blog (Jesus Seminar Critically Examined)
• Deliver Us from the Jesus Seminar (introduction to a series of articles featured by Crisis magazine)
• Introduction by Rev. Rodger Hunter Hall, STL (introduction to the Crisis magazine series)
• Prof. John McCormick, "The Genesis of the Jesus Seminar" (Part 1 in the series)

I dedicate the new blog to our friend and commentor, who calls himself "Realist, Former Convergent," in the vain hope that it may begin to ameliorate the pathological aversion towards recognizing the ineluctable role of fides in the workings of ratio, from which he and so many suffer suffer as a result of their affection for John Dominic Crossan and other similarly infected members of the Jesus Seminar.