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Re: Jesus Seminar



Thanks to Philip Sellew for reminding us of the Jesus Seminar's own
journal.  I certainly did not mean to suggest that behind the votes of the
Jesus Seminar there was not scholarly discussion and debate.  My problems
with the group-persona and style are (a) ANY pronoucnement, by any scholar
or any group of scholars is strictly only a sociology-of-knowlege datum,
and we all know that, so why does not the Westar Institute reflect
genuinely scholarly understanding of scholarly decision-making (instead of
pursuing a quaint and somewhat mischievous impression of final decisions
made to historical questions), and (b) the strong polemical motivations
that lie behind the group on the part of the mid-wives/founders (which
cause the group-behavior I've already objected to.  
	But, certainly, the individuals who make up the Jesus Seminar
include many many fine scholars as individuals.  And ceertainly, they
employ all scholarly procedures in attempting indivudually to deal with
the issues.  Larry Hurtado, Religion, Univ. of Manitoba