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

With all due respect for Christian teachings, it’s good to know the Truth. Gospels were written several decades after the death of Jesus, and they have been translated and edited over time. None of the authors knew Him, so they relied on stories handed down or created narrative they thought Jesus might have said. As it is written, “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” The Jesus Seminar is made up of Bible scholars of various Christian faiths who have carefully researched ancient documents to determine which statements Jesus actually made and which are likely not so. Their research helps us to better accept a true Jesus.

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, orThere'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.

I still consider myself to be new on my spiritual journey, but as an engineer, I definitely appreciated their methodical approach (1st 40 pages) to do a critical examination of the gospels. At the Bible Church I attend, any such questioning would be considered blasphemy, but without asking questions and engaging in dialogue, how do we learn and move the discussion forward?

This book is a brave attempt to find the genuine Jesus in amongst the advertising hype of the early Christian church. The authors set out to discover what in the gospels was likely to be from the mouth of Jesus and what more reflected the views of the gospel writers and the early church than Jesus himself. The methodology involved a group of interested people voting on each of the gospel sayings. The composition of the voting group was not constant and it is likely that individuals may have voted differently on different occasions if given the opportunity so for any one gospel saying there is little certainty in the attribution to Jesus or someone else. However taken as a whole the flavour of the real Jesus comes through. I found the book very helpful in reevaluating the gospels. The Jesus I discovered preached love, the equality of all, the futility of the pursuit of wealth, the necessity of caring for the poor and ill, tolerance for others and forgiveness. He said nothing about sexual behaviour or building grand churches which have been the preoccupations of the established Christian communities ever since. It is strange how those who insist on the primacy of the gospels in our society seem not to have read them.

This is Jesus words as understood by scholastic atheists. They care not one iota about the actual Christian perspective. It is only an analysis based on these authors preconceived notions. Christians were not included in the making of this book.

I have been doing extensive biblical research, for a book I’m working on, the primary focus of which is the defeat of ridiculous biblical literalism, which is destroying God’s Church here on Earth. I will update this review when I’ve finished studying this book. But I could not wait to comment on the quality of the physical book itself. I am a Kindle enthusiast. I love finding a book & then owning it, within minutes. This product is so exceptional. Quality paper stock, color-coding. This book is proof paper publishing is not dead. Any bibliophile would rejoice in this book. Now... onto the content. I’ll keep you posted.

'The Five Gospels' is one more study dedicated to the quest for the historical Jesus. The scholars of the Jesus Seminar (the body behind the study: numbering around eighty-five persons at publication) provide a lively, new translation in American English of the four canonical gospels and the Gospel of Thomas: newly discovered in the middle of the last century. Some expressions sound strange to English ears. 'Ranking priests' for the usual 'chief priests', 'son of Adam' for 'Son of Man' and 'God's imperial rule' for 'kingdom of God' are minor examples which nevertheless always stand out.The volume concentrates on the sayings attributed to Jesus, which are colour coded. According to the scholars' democratic vote on each saying: words in red were spoken by Jesus, words in pink were probably spoken by him, words in grey contain hints of what he said and words in black were not spoken by him. After each section of the gospel, there is commentary on how the scholars arrived at their verdict on each saying. Inevitably when dealing with five gospels with many similar sayings, there is much repetition and a tendency towards tediousness. However this is offset by a feeling that you are drawing closer to the truth. A picture emerges of a humble, laconic sage: more loving and accepting of others than a straight reading of the gospels would indicate. We also get a strong idea of what the early church made of Jesus as it struggled to establish itself.Anybody interested in the subject and all open-minded Christians will find this study fascinating, but the latter should beware: they are likely to have their cherished views shaken to the core.

An excellent book... arrived in time and as described. Thank you

Efficient

Book arrived as described. Very pleased.

If you are new to Geza Vermes' work, this will be a highly accessible, well organized introduction to his approach and his interpretation of Jesus of Nazareth. If, on the other hand, you are already familiar with his previous books on Jesus, this will probably be rather repetitious; it certainly doesn't include any substantively new material. I am giving it 4 stars because of the high quality of Vermes' historical research, his meticulous fairness of exposition, his unrivalled familiarity with both the primary sources and the scholarly literature in the field of Jesus studies, and the clarity of his writing.