Customer Reviews
Valuable analysis of what actually went into the gospels. - By: , 22 Jun 1999 
Whether you agree or disagree with the opinions of the committee, their analyses are always valuable & thought-provoking. Recommended for anyone curious about how the gospels were formed and, by implication, what they mean.
A fresh encounter with the gospels - By: , 19 Jun 1999 
Putting aside the process whereby the Jesus Seminar determined which sayings were likely to come from Jesus, the new translation that has been produced to accompany the group's deliberations is itself bracingin its freshness. The gospel stories have been worn smooth through countless retellings, & most recent translations do little to bring us face to face with the themes that lie at the heart of the Jesus stories. This one is different.
Known as The Scholars Version, the text is excellent for reading aloud, & captures something of the individuality of each writer. This is one volume I am delighted to own, & will refer to again & again.
By far the best Red-Letter Bible so far. An historic work. - By: , 13 Apr 1999 Brings together the who's-who of the worlds top theology academics, to produce a definitive scholarly consensus on the origins of the New Testament.
Deconstructs Jesus - By: , 25 Dec 1998 
If Jesus is nothing but an itinerant preacher, why bother with him? The author no doubt thinks that deconstructing Jesus will revitalize the church. More than likely, it will only empty it. I used to be a committed christian. Lots of scholarly criticism like this book made me abandon my faith. If the other reviewers here see some pointin following a dead itinerant preacher named Jesus, they are free to do so. For myself, now that Jesus is nothing more than another man, I will find better things to do with my time, thank you very much.
Trading an imaginary Christ for a real Jesus.... - By: , 01 Oct 1998 What did Jesus really say? Thomas Jefferson realized that the gospels contain parts that are authentic & parts that are not - he cut his bible up with scissors & paste & made the Jefferson Bible. The breakthrough in Christianity for the end of the second millenium, the scholars of the Jesus Seminar take all the most recent research & do the same thing, producing a scholarly consensus about the Gospels, separating what can be judged "authentic" from what was obviously added later. All other translations of the Gospels are authorized by various church councils & are subject to ecclesiastical & religious control. This book is compiled the way any other group of scientific data would be presented: eminent, well-credentialed scholars get together & form a consensus, & the results are published. And they are stunning. Traditional theologians (and "Christian" reviewers!) squirmin agony as their pompous clothes of medieval piety are stripped off by brilliant common sense scholarship. A great book which liberates the basis of Christianity from the medieval. Every home should have a bible - this is the one book of the Gospels I recommend.
