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5.0 out of 5 stars
Can we ever look at the Gospels the same?, Jan 12 2004
There have been many critics of the Jesus seminar, many of which wouldn't be able to tell you the first thing about it, other then that it consists of a bunch of "Damn liberals".
With the release of "The Five Gospels" the ground breaking work of the Jesus seminar is finally allowed to speak for itself.The introductory sections to the Five Gospels are worth the ticket price alone, concise summaries of modern research and theories on the Gospels.
I also found the "Scholars version" a highly readable translation. Where the Greek contains a colloquism, a play on words or outright bluntness, the translators have sought to reproduce this in English, the "present tense" originally found in Mark is also preserved. One of my favourite examples is when Jesus is brought before the High priest and asked if he is teh Messiah, he responds "You said it". But to me, the real value of "The Five Gospels" is the insight into the construction of the Gospels "Matthew" and "Luke".
After examining the parellels between the source text Mark and Matthew and Luke, I cannot imagine any self respecting scholar denying Markan priority or the existance of Q while keeping a straight face.
Previously, I was unaware that Matthew uses an amazing 90% of Mark, with Luke totalling around 50%, and noting instances where Mark is either left out altogether, "softened", or "improved" is a most revealing insight into the mindset of the Authors. After rereading the synoptics I was shocked at how foreign the Gospel of John is in comparison. As noted in the introduction, in the synoptics Jesus never talks about himself and speaks in parables. In John, Jesus tells no parables and talks about no one else except himself! Perhaps most striking of all is The Gospel of Thomas. The orthodox Church continues to rail against Thomas as " pure heresy" while more and more Christians are turning to the text for insights beyond anything in the canonised account.
After examining the parallels between Thomas and the synoptics, it is impossible to call Thomas a work of "pure heresy", at worst it is 60% heresy!
It is easy to criticise the criteria by which the Jesus Seminar worked, but no criteria was ever going to please everyone.
For example, Matthew's sayings about maintaining the Law of Moses were voted "black" with the fellows believing Matthew was a "Rejudaiser", on the contrary it is my opinion that thse saying were an authentic part of Q and Luke ignored these passages for his Hellenistic audience. To the people who work themselves up in a tizzy because their favourite saying was voted black, I have a very simple solution.
Get out your red highlighter and correct the "mistakes" of the fellows, but by no means throw the baby out with the bathwater! Stephenhanes@yahoo.com
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by Dennis C. Duling
by Marcus Borg
by Burton L. Mack
by Oxford
by Robert Walter Funk
