Phase2

Phase Two

The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus

In 1989, at the conclusion of its work on the authentic sayings of Jesus, the Jesus Seminar undertook to evaluate the deeds attributed to Jesus in the ancient sources, as well as the reported events of his life.

The Deeds of Jesus

The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds reports the Jesus Seminar deliberations on the historicity of events surrounding the life of Jesus. The Introduction to The Acts of Jesus discusses these deliberations:

The Acts of Jesus is an assessment of the reports in the ancient gospels of what Jesus of Nazareth did and what was done to him. These events together constitute the acts of Jesus.

During the second phase of the Jesus Seminar, which lasted from 1991 to 1996, the Fellows examined 387 reports of 176 events, in most of which Jesus is the principal actor, although occasionally John the Baptist, Simon Peter, or Judas is featured. Of the 176 events, only ten were given a red rating (red indicates that the Fellows had a relatively high level of confidence that the event actually took place). An additional nineteen were colored pink (pink suggests that the event probably occurred). The combined number of red and pink events (29) amounts to 16% of the total (176). That is slightly lower than the 18% of the sayings—primarily parables and aphorisms—assigned to the red and pink categories in The Five Gospels.

For those who believe the Bible to be the word of God a 16% historical accuracy rate may seem ridiculously low. Why did the Seminar end up with so many black (largely or entirely fictive) and gray (possible but unreliable) reports? The results should not be surprising to critical scholars—those whose evaluations are not predetermined by theological considerations. Nevertheless, it is important to both the general reader and the scholars who participated in the Seminar to be as clear as possible about the reasons for this result.

Voting on the Deeds of Jesus

Voting on the deeds of Jesus followed the process used in reviewing the sayings:

As in the first phase (1985–1991), the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar continued the practice of voting. Voting is the most efficient way of determining whether a consensus currently exists among the Fellows on a given point. The usual scholarly procedure is to make up one's mind privately, publish opinions arrived at in some scholarly journal, and then wait to see whether other specialists agree. The process is glacially slow, painful, and usually indecisive.

Voting also makes it possible to make a report that is readily understood by a broad public; that public, after all, may not be interested in the arcane details and extended arguments that went into those votes. The Seminar once again employed colored beads for voting purposes. As in the first phase, the four colors—red, pink, gray, and black—represent degrees of judgment.