The three major presuppositions of the Jesus Seminar: 1. Scientific Naturalism (i.e., anything outside the realm of natural explanation can never be backed by historical evidence). 2. The primacy of the apocryphal gospels. 3. The necessity of a politically correct Jesus.
William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, explains why understanding presuppositions is important: “What is a presupposition? A presupposition is an assumption you make prior to looking at the evidence. Presuppositions are crucial because they determine how you interpret the evidence.” In other words, the Jesus Seminar had their answer before they even began their research. That’s not proper methodology at all! Such methodology inevitably leads to a twisted distortion of the New Testament, academics, and research. Specifically, in the case of the Jesus Seminar, it leads to as many Jesus’ (Jesi?) as their are “fellows” and each Jesus ends up looking just like his “researcher.”
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Right on bro.
“Jesi” - I’m crackin’ up.
You got it, Billy. It’s as funny as it is true. How much stock can your really invest into a so-called “academic group methodology” if the members of the group all end the research with as many different Jesi? Jesi that look exactly like their respect researchers too!
John D. Crossan at least admits as much in a few of his works, but then falls back on those three major presuppositions anyway.
Also, there are aspects of some of these works which are edifying, albeit very small aspects. If any good can be found in the Seminar, it would be the emphasis placed upon the historical Jesus’s political and social unction. That is a positive thing. The Jesus Seminar fellows, however, gutted the entire faith and twisted it to fit a liberal/humanistic hermeneutic.
LOL! How funny! That trackback down there, right below the comments list, accredits this post to Scott McKnight. How cute! :)
lol - I’ve gotten some of those spammy trackbacks and one attributed one of my posts to “Judy Two Shoes.”
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