Words of Jesus cannot be taken as gospel

Press, 16 April 1986, Page 21

Words of Jesus cannot be taken as gospel

From

WILLIAM SCOBIE

in Los Angeles

Jesus Christ was a victim of sloppy reporting and frequent, deliberate misquotation, according to 30 of American’s leading biblical scholars. Meeting in Los Angeles as part of a project called the Jesus Seminar, the team agreed that: • In the course of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not say “Blessed are the peacemakers.” • He did not tell followers that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” • He did not recount the parable of the Rich Man (Dives) and Lazarus. The words were put into His mouth some 40 years after His death by Luke (xvi, 1931). The scholars, who come from wide range of denominations,

Roman Catholic, mainstream Protestant, Southern Bapist, and more, plan to re-examine over the next six years more than 500 sayings attributed to Jesus.

Seated at a vast round table at the University of Redlands outside Los Angeles last month, the Jesus Seminar debated all 33 parables found in the New Testamant, plus a handful of recently discovered texts they consider at least as authentic as those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The ultimate fruit of their labours will be a new edition of the Gospels giving a severely curtailed account of what-Jesus-really-said, printed in red ink. “It’s high time we biblical scholars spoKg up,” says Dr V

Robert Funk, professor of religious studies at Montana University and organiser of the seminar. “For too long we’ve buried our views of the Gospels in obscure journals for fear of controversy and political reprisals from pulp religious authors and TV evangelists.” Controversy there is: two professors of philosophy and religion have been forced to resign from their colleges, one in California and the other in Texas, because they would not sever links with the Jesij§> Seminar.

The “United Methodist Reporter” denounced the project as "unhealthy and divisive.” The scholars respond that ordinary churchgoers and followers of the TV preachers are entitled to “the truth.” The Gospels were written 40 years or more after the Crucifixion, and for years religious scholars have agreed widely that many sayings attributed to Jesus Christ are in fact the teachings of early Church leaders.

How at this date could anyone pick and choose among

ings? “By careful consideration of historical conditions during Jesus’s lifetime, by studying the concerns of early Christian leaders, and collating contradictions in the Gospel stories regarding Jesus’s statements,” says Dr Funk. Each debate lasts several hours. “Things can get quite heated,” according to one seminar member. “Then the scholars vote by placing red, pink, grey or black beads in plastic boxes.” Red is a vote for the authenticity of a parable or saying, black against, pink and grey for degrees of doubt. Lazarus and the Rich Man went down to defeat — 11 black, 5 grey, 6 pink and 4 red. The Prodigal Son passed muster at 23

to 6. The Good Samaritan came in at 25 to 3. Most of the favourite parables were judged authentic. Why blackball Lazarus? “Most of us found it banal in comparison to other parables,” says Professor Karen King, of Occidental College, Los Angeles. “Luke picked up something that suited his purpose.” Why yes for the Good Samaritan? “It’s typical of Jesus’s challenge to the status quo,” says the Rev Robert Hamerton-Kelly, of Stanford University. “It opens a new horizon to what He called the Kingdom of God.” Copyright — London Observer Service