The Case For Christ

Jesus of history, he's powerless and he's meaningless. Unless
he's rooted in reality, unless he established his divinity by
rising from the dead, he's just a feel-good symbol who's as
irrelevant as Santa Claus. But there's good evidence that he's
more than that. I had already heard well-supported eyewitness,
documentary, corroborating, and scientific evidence supporting
the New Testament claim that he is God incarnate, and I was
getting ready to hit the road again to dig out even more
historical material about his character and resurrection.
Meanwhile Greg Boyd isn't a lone voice crying out against the
Jesus Seminar. He's part of a growing crescendo of criticism
coming not just from prominent conservative evangelicals but also
from other well-respected scholars representing a wide variety of
theological backgrounds.
An example was as close as my motel's nightstand, where I
reached over to pick up a book called The Real Jesus, which I had
recently purchased. Its author is Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson, the
highly regarded professor of New Testament and Christian origins
at the Candler School of Theology of Emory University. Johnson is
a Roman Catholic who was a Benedictine monk before becoming a
biblical scholar and writing a number of influential books.
Johnson systematically skewers the Jesus Seminar, saying it "by
no means represents the cream of New Testament scholarship," it
follows a process that is "biased against the authenticity of
the gospel traditions," and its results were "already determined
ahead of time." He concludes, "This is not responsible, or even
critical, scholarship. It is a self-indulgent charade."
He goes on to quote other distinguished scholars with similar
opinions, including Dr. Howard Clark Kee, who called the Seminar
"an academic disgrace," and Richard Hayes of Duke University,
whose review of The Five Gospels asserted that "the case argued
by this book would not stand up in any court. "
I closed the book and turned off the light. Tomorrow I'd resume
my hunt for evidence that would stand up.
Deliberations
Questions for Reflection or Group Study
1. Have you read news accounts of the Jesus Seminar's opinions?
What was your response to what was reported? Did the articles
give you the impression that the Seminar's findings represent the
opinions of the majority of scholars? What dangers do you see in