Never been a fan of the Jesus Seminar. I don't feel like there is enough theological balance between scholars. In other words, there should be some more NT scholars of a centerist bent. And the voting system seems flawed too.

Just my two cents.

I like the Jesus Seminar, because they are not afraid to stand up and say what they think is the truth. I think they get a bad rap for their voting system. They have never claimed to be voting on the truth, only on where the concensus (or lack thereof) stands among their community. I very much look forward to this new publication!
Doug Spurlin

"The book is likely to be controversial. So is its premise, that Paul did not write all the letters attributed to him in the New Testament." Well, controversial among two groups: (1) biblical literalists, and (2) people from another planet.

I'm also not particularly a fan of the Jesus Seminar, but it should be interesting. Paul needs more new looks. +Tom Wright, hardly a biblical left-winger, has done some non-standard readings of Paul.

The new translation of Paul's letters should stand or fall on its scholarship, not on the "bent" of the translators. I'm curious to see how their translation reads.

June Butler

But thats what I think the problem is June - it seems that voting gets based purely on what they already believe is true, or what their theology is.

So if thats the case then I still believe they can include people on the other side of the divide and include their scholarship in the studies.

Eric

Eric, I speak of reviews by scholars outside the Jesus Seminar group. However the insiders vote, their peers on the outside will have a say.

June Butler

A sidebar ad on some gay websites is selling a book about a supposed cache of scrolls written in Koine Greek. This discovery is supposed to give a better understanding of the vocabulary of the Christian scriptures. Major revelations are promised. Does anyone know anything about this? The blurb doesn't sound entirely reliable.

I might have gone to Amazon before asking about The Jesus Secret by Michael Wood.

Customer reviews imply that Wood's scholarship is iffy, but his arguments interesting. This comment by reviewer Tracy Roberts indicates the sort of issue that the Jesus Seminary could be dealing with:

Throughout, the book focuses on the Koine Greek word dikaios, which was translated incorrectly as `moral righteousness.' However, the Koine Greek word dikaios means `justice and equality.' New meanings are revealed regarding such issues as: homosexuality, greed, justice, equality, human rights, the concept of repentance, salvation, and much more. As Wood points out, much of the meaning of Jesus words are rooted in the doctrine `equity based requirements.' That is, Jesus' central teaching: `treat others equitably for this is the law.' Dikaios was the closest Koine Greek word to expressing `treating others equal to ourselves.' As Wood points out, it is mentioned 193 times in the New Testament.

Let my throw in my two-cents worth as a centrist New Testament person...
First, the Jesus Seminar started out with a fairly wide group of scholars. As it became more clear that there was a driving agenda animating the leadership, some of the more centrist people pulled out. Some of my professors are former members who left when the Seminar began taking its sensationalist turn. And that is what happened--it began focusing on itself as a media machine rather than a center for scholarly dialogue.

Doug is correct in that the voting system speaks only to a consensus in their group; it does not represent a broad spectrum of NT scholarship.

All scholars approach the text with presuppositions and ideologies--that's unavoidable. And sometimes that can be a real benefit. Had feminist scholars not come to the texts asking new questions from their perspective the world of NT scholarship would not be as vibrant as it is today. What is troublesome is when ideologies and perspectives become blinders that keep you from judging your evidence fairly. To put it another way, our perspectives and ideologies help us formulate better questions to bring to the text; where scholars get into trouble is when those ideologies and perspectives start supplying the answers as well...

If the Seminar can demonstrate that it's willing to 1) engage the critical scholarship on Paul and 2) offer works of substance that educate the interested rather than merely sensationalize then we'll have something to talk about.