The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the AUTHENTIC Words of Jesus

The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the AUTHENTIC Words of Jesus | Robert W. Funk | How Did They Decide What Jesus Did or Didn't Say

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	The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the AUTHENTIC Words of Jesus Robert W. Funk HarperOne, 1997 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 67 reviews view larger image
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Did Jesus claim to be the Messiah?
Did he promise to return and usher in a new age?
How did Jesus envision the Kingdom of God?

The Five Gospels answers these questions in a bold, dynamic work that will startle traditional readers of the Bible and rekindle interest in it among secular skeptics. In 1985 the Jesus Seminar, comprising a distinguished group of biblical scholars, was founded by Robert W. Funk. They embarked on a new translation and assessment of the gospels, including the recently discovered Gospel of Thomas. In pursuit of the historical Jesus, they used their collective expertise to determine the authenticity of more than fifteen hundred sayings attributed to him. Their remarkable findings appear in this book.

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A Remarkable Book

Perhaps it does not occur to the casual reader of the Bible that we have gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but nothing from Jesus himself. What kind of person would we find if we discovered an original work produced by this most influential man of all time? We may never know, but thanks to the efforts of groups of scholars like the Jesus Seminar and the International Q Project we are beginning to acquire an exciting new picture of a Jesus free from the matrix of theological dross, a Jesus that lived and taught in history.

From my study of this work, it appears that the historical Jesus had no preoccupation with the "sinfulness of man" but held a rather elevated view of humanity's potential. His compassion for others seems to flow from an insight not only into his own spiritual integrity, but the spiritual integrity of every individual. He was a healer, not because he was a divinely appointed worker of miracles, but because he understood how to open people's minds to their inner spiritual power, to get them consciously reconnected to their own divine nature and bring about their innate wholeness.

Some critics have charged that The Five Gospels diminish the relevance of Jesus. For me, this book makes Jesus a much more plausible and inspirational example of what lies in store for us all on the spiritual journey. This is a remarkable book and I commend those who dedicate their talents to stripping away the thick cloud of myth and superstition surrounding Jesus and reveal the real light of historical truth.

J Douglas Bottorff, author of The Whisper of Pialigos.

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How Did They Decide What Jesus Did or Didn't Say

Criteria used as to whether or not Jesus said it:

1. Recognizing the distinction between the historical Jesus and the familiar Christ talked about in the first creeds...
2. Recognizing Matthew, Mark, and Luke as being much closer to the historical Jesus than the Gospel of John...
3. Recognizing the hypothetical 'Q' as the second source (Mark being the first) for Matthew and Luke...
4. Liberation of the non-eschatological Jesus of parables - from Schweitzer's eschatological [end of the world is coming] Jesus...
5. Recognizing the fundamental difference between the oral culture (of Jesus) and a print culture (like our own)...
6. Assuming that the gospels are narratives embellished by myth and by plausible fictions that enhance the gospel for first-century Christians...
7. Assuming it is the believer who bears the burden of proof - not the skeptic.

It was unclear as to whether these were also criteria for Funk's selection of the 72 scholars. Perhaps those who couldn't live with the criteria need not apply. In any event, these were the criteria agreed upon for evaluating everything attributed to Jesus in the gospels, including the non-canonical Thomas. The four possible votes each delegate had for any given phrase, colloquially, were:

"That's Jesus!
Sure sounds like Jesus,
Well, maybe, or
There's been some mistake."

The final caveat was "Beware of finding a Jesus entirely congenial to you."

I would encourage any approach that had at least a modicum of textual analysis and found the whole muti-year endeavor fascinating. The 38-page introduction is a concise summary of New Testament Biblical Textual Criticism. The translation has the most readable prose I've ever seen in a Bible, with extensive commentary for each possible "Jesus said this" entry - phrase by phrase application of their Pillars. Naturally, if the panel had been chosen with different criteria, the results would have been different. With the exception of literal interpreters or fundamentalists (who might be offended), "The Five Gospels" is an essential and superb addition to anyone's religious library.

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The Five Gospels

As a religion major I found the five gospels to be quite interesting. This book takes the gospels and helps to identify stories and takes story by story to help you understand.

What did Jesus really say?

The result of more than 100 Bible Scholars study over many years to try to identify which were Jesus Actual sayings and what are in fact a gloss put on by writers in the first century AD. Not for the fundamentalist literalist - or perhaps it should be!!

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