Jesus Seminar
John Dominic Crossan, noted member of the Jesus Seminar
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| Formation | 1985 |
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| Founder | Robert Funk |
| Purpose | To decide their collective view of the historicity of the deeds and sayings of Jesus of Nazareth |
| Methods | Votes with colored beads |
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Membership
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150 |
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Parent organization
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Westar Institute |
The Jesus Seminar, a group of about 150 critical scholars and laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk, originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute. The seminar was active in the 1980s and 1990s. It preceded the short-lived Jesus Project, which was active from 2008 to 2009.
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:
They also run a series of lectures and workshops in various U.S. cities.
The Jesus Seminar was very active through the 1980s and 1990s, and into the early 21st century. Although never formally disbanded, it effectively ceased functioning as "The Jesus Seminar" in 2006, shortly after the 2005 death of its founder, Robert Funk. Former Seminarians have carried on the tradition of the Seminar, and continue to publish works researched and developed using the methodologies of the original Jesus Seminar.
The Seminar's reconstruction of the historical Jesus portrayed him as an itinerant Hellenistic Jewish sage and faith-healer who preached a gospel of liberation from injustice in startling parables and aphorisms. An iconoclast, Jesus broke with established Jewish theological dogmas and social conventions in both his teachings and 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 depicts God as a loving father; he fraternizes with outsiders and criticizes 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 were nothing more than 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 the 18th Century, what was unique about the Jesus Seminar was its consensual research methodology.
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