| The Jesus Seminar sets themselves out to be unbiased and without a
theological agenda. In reality though, it seems that they are at least as
biased as evangelical scholars, and they've basically discovered what they've
set out to find.
Problems with their methodology:
- Firstly, they assume that the gospels are not even generally reliable.
Their rationale is that the gospels record supernatural events (read:
miracles). Because such things as walking on water and resurrection are
unlikely, they are totally impossible. Therefore, the disciples did not see
what they actually saw, and therefore the gospels are unreliable in reporting
the truth. I personally think you can believe that nothing supernatural ever
happens, but if you believe in God, I don't think it's reasonable to believe he
can't interevene in ways that are supernatural. Anyway, with this criteria
(which is already biased, there are good reasons to believe in the
authenticity in the gospels), it's obvious how they've come to the conclusion
that Jesus was not God or the Messiah.
- Secondly, their criteria for deciding whether Jesus said something or not
is biased. They assume that Jesus did not say what the gospels attribute to Him
unless it can be proven that He did. In reality, this is the opposite to the
assumptions historians usually use, as people generally do not lie about
everything they record.
- Thirdly, they argue Jesus was not unique. Like the many before Him, Jesus
was simply another miracle worker. However, Jesus is unparalleled in sheer
quantity, quality and authority (Jesus performed miracles in the power of God,
not because he prayed to God for them) of His miracles.
Again, the Jesus Seminar represents is a very small group of radical scholars
and do not represent the mainstream scholarship on the New Testament. They
basically set out to show there's a big difference between the Jesus of faith
and the Jesus of history, and that's what they've found. Naturally,
evangelical Christians will be biased on their findings as well, and they make
very strong claims about Jesus that are hard to believe. But, in my opinion,
there is much stronger and more rational evidence for the Jesus of the Bible
rather than the extreme opinions of the Jesus Seminar.
Also see: Jesus Seminar, Are the gospels reliable?
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