Results of Wistar Institute Research and Meetings on the Authenticity of the Bible
Results of the Wistar Institute’s research and meetings on the authenticity of the Bible Article date: 8/26/2010
Image of the Westar logo
Prepared by Dr. Zainab Abdel Aziz
Professor of French Civilization at Egyptian Universities
Article summary:
In 1985, about 25 years ago, an institute was established to study the Gospels in a neutral manner through theologians regardless of the results they would reach. This institute was called (Wistar). During these years, a conference was held and the validity of the Gospels was voted on by members who included more than 200 theologians. The results were as follows:
- 82% of the sayings attributed to Jesus (Christ) were not said by him.
- 84% of the works attributed to Jesus he did not do
- Jesus did not say that anyone should believe that his death was an atonement for the sins of mankind.
- Jesus did not say he was the Christ
- Jesus did not say that he is the second person of the Trinity.
- Jesus did not require followers to engage in periodic confession, repentance, or fasting.
- He did not threaten anyone with hell, nor did he promise anyone heaven.
- Jesus did not say that he would rise from the dead.
- He did not say that he was born of a virgin, nor did he ask anyone to believe that.
The article in detail:
The year 2007, and especially the month of February, represents one of the most important stages of the work of the four “Isa Symposiums”, as the scholars working on it will then come out with a new vision about the history of “the origins of Christianity”.
To present, based on all these researches and reviews, a new Christian heritage, based on reviewing documents and historical facts that can be proven, and not based on political and ecclesiastical purposes or on imposing belief in them by force.
The Westar Institute and its website in the United States of America www.westarinstitute.org organized a long-term research seminar, known in the Western world as the “Jesus Seminar,” even though the topics of the research differed, in order to reopen the file of research on the historical Jesus, meaning: searching for the truth of what he actually said and did, in reality, and not as the ecclesiastical institution has presented it since the fourth century AD, and to present the results of this research to the largest number of readers, instead of concealing it or instead of it remaining in the hands of a few scholars researching theology and its history.
The Westar Institute and its website in the United States of America www.westarinstitute.org organized a long-term research seminar, known in the Western world as the “Jesus Seminar,” even though the topics of the research differed, in order to reopen the file of research on the historical Jesus, meaning: searching for the truth of what he actually said and did, in reality, and not as the ecclesiastical institution has presented it since the fourth century AD, and to present the results of this research to the largest number of readers, instead of concealing it or instead of it remaining in the hands of a few scholars researching theology and its history.
This idea began when thirty scholars decided in 1985 to accept the task of undertaking this huge work and all the challenges and obstacles it entailed. They were soon joined by many scholars from all over the world who were eager to know the truth about this historical subject, reaching more than two hundred specialists in various fields of Christian sciences. This is due to the increasing research that began to confirm, in the past two centuries, that Christ as presented by the Church has no historical basis.
These research seminars have been ongoing since March 1985 at the Wistar Institute , in addition to adopting several other projects in the same field, including the Pauline Seminar, the Canonical Texts Seminar, and the Acts Seminar.
The Wistar Institute is not an anti-Christian institution, but rather a non-profit institution for research on Christian sciences and texts to introduce them and to stop the continued collapse of the ancient structure of the church institution in the West. This has become a reality that cannot be ignored and shakes its foundations. That is, the idea of the institute’s workers is not to abolish Christianity, but rather to try to remove the slander and contradictions that have accumulated over it through the councils throughout the ages. This is because until recently, academic research remained confined to universities and institutes, and was usually prevented from being published, on the pretext that it was too specialized and would not be understood by the general public! Some also feared the brutality of the church institution and its strict, decisive disciplinary committees, so they would pass on information among themselves, due to the large number of professors and clerics who were blown up for even trying to understand or change the existing conditions and publish their opinions based on modern discoveries.
Despite the fact that the church institution imposed a fence that was similar to the days of the Inquisition and its darkness, and many scholars and researchers were subjected to criticism and trials as heretics and lost their university or theological positions, which led many of them to prefer to keep their information and criticisms.. However, the spirit of scientific research and intellectual flow shone and flourished in the research of colleges, universities and seminars despite the repression. As soon as World War II ended, scholars of criticism and scientific research headed the leadership positions on the academic stage in Europe and America. The Wistar Institute
does not belong to any religious institution and does not advocate a particular point of view, but all that its workers aspire to is to search for the truth, reach it and publish it to the world.. The members of the seminar meet twice a year to discuss the scientific research they have reached and they have exchanged it for study before the regular meeting is held. The first pillar of this study is based on the sayings of Jesus, that is, on collecting more than one thousand five hundred formulations of approximately five hundred sayings of Jesus, attributed to him in the various approved and hidden gospels, and studying the degree of possibility of attributing them to him linguistically and historically in addition to what they represent in terms of content.
These research seminars have been ongoing since March 1985 at the Wistar Institute , in addition to adopting several other projects in the same field, including the Pauline Seminar, the Canonical Texts Seminar, and the Acts Seminar.
The Wistar Institute is not an anti-Christian institution, but rather a non-profit institution for research on Christian sciences and texts to introduce them and to stop the continued collapse of the ancient structure of the church institution in the West. This has become a reality that cannot be ignored and shakes its foundations. That is, the idea of the institute’s workers is not to abolish Christianity, but rather to try to remove the slander and contradictions that have accumulated over it through the councils throughout the ages. This is because until recently, academic research remained confined to universities and institutes, and was usually prevented from being published, on the pretext that it was too specialized and would not be understood by the general public! Some also feared the brutality of the church institution and its strict, decisive disciplinary committees, so they would pass on information among themselves, due to the large number of professors and clerics who were blown up for even trying to understand or change the existing conditions and publish their opinions based on modern discoveries.
Despite the fact that the church institution imposed a fence that was similar to the days of the Inquisition and its darkness, and many scholars and researchers were subjected to criticism and trials as heretics and lost their university or theological positions, which led many of them to prefer to keep their information and criticisms.. However, the spirit of scientific research and intellectual flow shone and flourished in the research of colleges, universities and seminars despite the repression. As soon as World War II ended, scholars of criticism and scientific research headed the leadership positions on the academic stage in Europe and America. The Wistar Institute
does not belong to any religious institution and does not advocate a particular point of view, but all that its workers aspire to is to search for the truth, reach it and publish it to the world.. The members of the seminar meet twice a year to discuss the scientific research they have reached and they have exchanged it for study before the regular meeting is held. The first pillar of this study is based on the sayings of Jesus, that is, on collecting more than one thousand five hundred formulations of approximately five hundred sayings of Jesus, attributed to him in the various approved and hidden gospels, and studying the degree of possibility of attributing them to him linguistically and historically in addition to what they represent in terms of content.
Phase One: 1985-1991 The symposium began its work by searching for the true sayings of Jesus or everything attributed to him, in all documents extending from the first century until the reign of Constantine, and specifically to the year 313 AD, when Christianity was declared an official religion among the other religions practiced in the empire. They considered that date as a dividing line. The symposium members met every six months to discuss the research in order to reach results as they went. At the end of their meeting, they voted on each of the points they had studied, using colored markers to determine the degree of credibility of this or that saying. Robert Funk , the president of the Jesus Seminar , which held its first session between March 21 and 24, 1985, in Berkeley, California, began by explaining that all that concerns them is the search for the truth about Jesus, what he actually said, and not caring about the hostility or insults that will result from that work from the objectors or from those who insistently and fiercely maintain all the distortions that have accumulated in Christianity over the ages, and all that the church-directed media continues to impose on followers and on the world, explaining that this work that they will do will serve millions of followers who are ignorant of the facts of the religion to which they belong. Robert Funk described it by saying: “It is ignorance that reaches the level of illiteracy.” What a bitter and insulting truth that comes from a believing scholar who understands the meaning of what he says! On the other hand, all colleagues working in this symposium were asked to follow up on the most important books published in this field, both old and new, and to summarize the most important points contained therein, so that they are aware of everything related to the main topic. This is in addition to making a comprehensive inventory of everything related to Jesus’ heritage and evaluating it so that this collective work comes as a structure built on scientific foundations with the utmost degree of accuracy, objectivity and publicity. The motive for searching for the historical Jesus: The motive for searching for the historical Jesus is that his true image, or what appears from it from documents and research, is completely different from what the church institution and its texts present, and that the transmission of his news or everything related to him in the early stages of the emergence of Christianity was done orally for decades. This allows for deviation from the main line and diving into inaccurate or dishonest curves. Also, the language of Jesus was Aramaic and the current Gospels were written in Greek. The oral heritage has no research or historical importance when compared to the data resulting from documented scientific research. The same objections are noted from the chronological or calendar point of view, as there is a period extending from 20 to 40 years from his “death” to the beginning of the formulation of the first text. The first of these texts was the Gospel according to Mark, and it is certain that he did not write it as an eyewitness, as the one who wrote the formulation of that first Gospel did not see Jesus or follow him, and the three Gospels according to Mark, Matthew and Luke differ and contradict what is presented in the Gospel according to John. They were all copied from each other and from what is known as the “ original Gospel ” (not the original, but the original from which it was copied) and is referred to by the term “Quelle ”
) That is, the original in German and they abbreviate it to the letter Q. Contrary to this general observation, the texts of the Gospels are composed of different temporal layers and accumulated on top of each other through the development of the ecclesiastical and political heritage. That is, they are not a continuous formulation at once. What researchers of different backgrounds have concluded is that the Gospel referred to by the letter Q is itself composed of three different temporal layers, known to all those interested in this field by the names: Q1 , Q2 , and Q3 . As for the observation that condemns that ecclesiastical heritage in its texts that were formulated according to religious and political purposes, it is that all the original manuscripts have disappeared or been deliberately hidden, and the first remaining fragments of them date back to the year 125 AD, and the first parts that can be considered part of a reliable text date back to around the year 200 AD, and the first complete copy of the Gospels dates back to around the year 300 AD! There are no two identical copies of the Gospels, among all those copies that have reached our time, except starting from the year 1454 AD. What all the workers in the symposium and others confirm is that during the transfer processes, which were carried out by priests and monks, as they were the only ones who had the right to learn to read and write throughout the Dark Ages and the Inquisition, spelling errors occurred from the copyists in addition to modifying and distorting the text according to whims. No scholar, whatever his orientation, can assert that the Greek text is a faithful translation of the first texts. It is sufficient what Saint Jerome wrote about his changes and alterations in the text when formulating the current four Gospels! This is what he wrote very clearly in the introduction - the letter he addressed to Pope Damasus, who had asked him to carry out this task, which certainly strips these texts of any credibility. What distinguishes the work of the "Jesus Seminar" most is that it is carried out in a public collective manner based on cooperation among them, and not on the dominance and control of one individual over others. The institute also allows visitors from outside the official members to attend and follow the discussions and have the right to contribute to them in the workshops held around them. As for the evaluation of the written texts themselves, what they came out with can be summarized as follows: Those who wrote the Gospels compiled according to their whims, and sometimes they improvised or composed what Jesus did not say or added their comments to make them consistent with their personal point of view and style. It is noticeable, for example, that criticism of Jesus or directed against him in the early texts quickly turns into criticism against the apostles in the later versions, and the citations often betray the text to reveal the differences and conflicts of Christianity in its early formation. And the formulation of some facts in a "Christian" style confirms that they are later additions.. Christianity did not exist in the days of Jesus, and Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew! This is what new research - even outside the "Jesus Symposium" - began to indicate, including the Vatican institution, especially after the Second Vatican Council in 1965, in which it absolved the Jews of the blood of Christ!..
) That is, the original in German and they abbreviate it to the letter Q. Contrary to this general observation, the texts of the Gospels are composed of different temporal layers and accumulated on top of each other through the development of the ecclesiastical and political heritage. That is, they are not a continuous formulation at once. What researchers of different backgrounds have concluded is that the Gospel referred to by the letter Q is itself composed of three different temporal layers, known to all those interested in this field by the names: Q1 , Q2 , and Q3 . As for the observation that condemns that ecclesiastical heritage in its texts that were formulated according to religious and political purposes, it is that all the original manuscripts have disappeared or been deliberately hidden, and the first remaining fragments of them date back to the year 125 AD, and the first parts that can be considered part of a reliable text date back to around the year 200 AD, and the first complete copy of the Gospels dates back to around the year 300 AD! There are no two identical copies of the Gospels, among all those copies that have reached our time, except starting from the year 1454 AD. What all the workers in the symposium and others confirm is that during the transfer processes, which were carried out by priests and monks, as they were the only ones who had the right to learn to read and write throughout the Dark Ages and the Inquisition, spelling errors occurred from the copyists in addition to modifying and distorting the text according to whims. No scholar, whatever his orientation, can assert that the Greek text is a faithful translation of the first texts. It is sufficient what Saint Jerome wrote about his changes and alterations in the text when formulating the current four Gospels! This is what he wrote very clearly in the introduction - the letter he addressed to Pope Damasus, who had asked him to carry out this task, which certainly strips these texts of any credibility. What distinguishes the work of the "Jesus Seminar" most is that it is carried out in a public collective manner based on cooperation among them, and not on the dominance and control of one individual over others. The institute also allows visitors from outside the official members to attend and follow the discussions and have the right to contribute to them in the workshops held around them. As for the evaluation of the written texts themselves, what they came out with can be summarized as follows: Those who wrote the Gospels compiled according to their whims, and sometimes they improvised or composed what Jesus did not say or added their comments to make them consistent with their personal point of view and style. It is noticeable, for example, that criticism of Jesus or directed against him in the early texts quickly turns into criticism against the apostles in the later versions, and the citations often betray the text to reveal the differences and conflicts of Christianity in its early formation. And the formulation of some facts in a "Christian" style confirms that they are later additions.. Christianity did not exist in the days of Jesus, and Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew! This is what new research - even outside the "Jesus Symposium" - began to indicate, including the Vatican institution, especially after the Second Vatican Council in 1965, in which it absolved the Jews of the blood of Christ!..
Jesus' Words and Voting on Them:
The first phase of the "Jesus Symposium" focused on the various formulations of the sayings attributed to him, peace be upon him, to determine the strength of the probability that he actually said them. The voting process was carried out by all participants on each of the sayings after studying and evaluating them from all research aspects. Realizing the fact that consensus does not mean determining the pure or decisive truth, but rather clarifies the best judgment or the best evaluation of it in terms of logic and scientific and historical support.
The first steps were based on inventorying and categorizing the words and sayings attributed to Jesus in the first three centuries. The sayings were divided into parables, similes, dialogues, and stories that included phrases attributed to him.
The symposium members excluded all the theological boundaries imposed by the Church on various fields of research on any information about Jesus. They also rejected the Church's evaluation of a particular Gospel or its exclusion of another, contenting themselves with the arbitration of science and its tools. They also relied on the evaluation process on voting to determine the extent of the possibility of credibility on four levels, which they defined in four colors that they adhered to even in the final printing of each symposium, and their meanings are as follows:
• Red: indicates that Jesus said this phrase
• Pink: it is likely that he said it
• Grey: Jesus did not say this phrase even though the idea in it is close to what he said
• Black: Jesus did not say this phrase at all even though it is similar to a different heritage
from the introduction to the book “The Five Gospels”: The results of the research on Jesus’ sayings, which extended from 1985 to 1991,
were collected in a book entitled: “ The Five Gospels”, published in 1993, after they added the Gospel of Thomas , which had been found in Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt in 1945. They saw in it features that were very similar to what is called the original or source Gospel, which is symbolized by the letter Q. However, the two texts were written during the forty-year period between the “death” of Jesus and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Coelho’s text is one of the first or oldest texts that does not include the crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus Christ, which indicates that it is a later addition made for specific purposes.
The first phase of the "Jesus Symposium" focused on the various formulations of the sayings attributed to him, peace be upon him, to determine the strength of the probability that he actually said them. The voting process was carried out by all participants on each of the sayings after studying and evaluating them from all research aspects. Realizing the fact that consensus does not mean determining the pure or decisive truth, but rather clarifies the best judgment or the best evaluation of it in terms of logic and scientific and historical support.
The first steps were based on inventorying and categorizing the words and sayings attributed to Jesus in the first three centuries. The sayings were divided into parables, similes, dialogues, and stories that included phrases attributed to him.
The symposium members excluded all the theological boundaries imposed by the Church on various fields of research on any information about Jesus. They also rejected the Church's evaluation of a particular Gospel or its exclusion of another, contenting themselves with the arbitration of science and its tools. They also relied on the evaluation process on voting to determine the extent of the possibility of credibility on four levels, which they defined in four colors that they adhered to even in the final printing of each symposium, and their meanings are as follows:
• Red: indicates that Jesus said this phrase
• Pink: it is likely that he said it
• Grey: Jesus did not say this phrase even though the idea in it is close to what he said
• Black: Jesus did not say this phrase at all even though it is similar to a different heritage
from the introduction to the book “The Five Gospels”: The results of the research on Jesus’ sayings, which extended from 1985 to 1991,
were collected in a book entitled: “ The Five Gospels”, published in 1993, after they added the Gospel of Thomas , which had been found in Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt in 1945. They saw in it features that were very similar to what is called the original or source Gospel, which is symbolized by the letter Q. However, the two texts were written during the forty-year period between the “death” of Jesus and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Coelho’s text is one of the first or oldest texts that does not include the crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus Christ, which indicates that it is a later addition made for specific purposes.
Cover image of the five Gospels published by the Wistar Center.
The Gospel of Thomas contains 114 sayings without any narrative intervention. It represents a stage prior to what was presented in the approved Gospels, so it was considered an independent and unbiased testimony to the legacy of Jesus in its ancient formulations. It is considered one of the Gnostic Gospels, so the church institution excluded it.
Here we must pause to clarify that the Gospel of Thomas is a manuscript from the manuscripts that were discovered in Nag Hammadi in 1945. It is a collection of religious and philosophical texts that were collected and translated into the Coptic language in the fourth century AD by some Gnostic Christians, then translated in the modern era by a group of famous scholars in the West. The first edition was published in 1978, followed by a revised edition with an introduction to each manuscript in 1988.
What is meant by the word Gnosticism is: immediate access to spiritual knowledge, or in other words: the ascent of man until he reaches divine knowledge. This is the opposite of what the church institution imposes, that "God descended and became human" and imposes this statement based on the necessity of blind faith in it, regardless of its consequences, and not based on reason and logic. Therefore, it besieged Gnosticism and uprooted its followers. However, Gnosticism continued in a dim and obscured manner, along with its followers, until the Nag Hammadi manuscripts were discovered to shed new light on them. From the introduction written by James Robinson, we understand how it continued across different eras, and the extent of its influence in the Middle Ages, then in the Renaissance, then in the Age of Enlightenment, and even to our days, and even the extent of its influence on philosophy, theology, culture, and the arts. The book
"The Five Gospels" represents a dramatic exit by moving away from the approved studies, from which there is no way out or exit to the truth. It also represents the beginning of a new era of research on the Gospels. The participants in the "Jesus Symposium" decided to update all the studies that had been done and to create a new Christian heritage based on the critical studies that had been done in the past two hundred years.
After the publication of Darwin's research on the origin of species in 1859, and the subsequent battles and isolation of scientists working in evangelical research, especially in America, a mentality prevailed that created an atmosphere similar to the Inquisition, with the difference in names and methods. Scientists' opinions and research were accused of being dangerous, and many of them were put on trial, accused of heresy, and suffered the loss of their academic positions. However, the intellectual liberation that prevailed in the twentieth century quickly allowed scientists to reorganize themselves in colleges, universities, and seminars.
With the end of World War II, scientists returned to leadership positions in colleges and universities across the continent. This forced the church establishment to establish its own institutes for evangelical studies in an attempt to confront this new research and to continue to publish what it has been imposing with diligence and force since the fourth century.
One of the most important conflicts between the two sides is the attempt of scholars who criticize historical events and facts and their insistence on continuing their research tirelessly and without hesitation, whatever the outcome, to reach knowledge of what Jesus may have actually said and done from everything attributed to him in the approved gospels and other documents, in which he appears to be in opposition to the prevailing religious traditions, such as not observing the Sabbath, or showing hostility towards his family or their accusing him of madness. Even his disciples seem to be unable to understand his message. This is just one example, and there are many points that remain mysterious to this day, which has placed Jesus openly and without hesitation on the table of disagreement between scholars from both sides.
This situation arose from the fact that the Jesus of beliefs and doctrines, whose image was imposed so fiercely in the Middle Ages by the powerful ecclesiastical authority and by the sword, could no longer control the minds of those who had come to adopt the theories of Galileo, Kepler and Copernicus, since they had removed the old gods from their thrones thanks to the equipment and achievements they had created.
The great leap in astronomy was part of the experimental scientific awakening, which saw all knowledge subjected to science and experimentation. In keeping with this scientific leap, ancient historical data were reconsidered to differentiate between what was real and what was imaginary. In the evangelical field, scientists had to research the relationship between faith and history and separate between them. This is what happened with regard to the search for the historical Jesus.
Thus, historical documents and data became indispensable tools, in the modern era, for researching and differentiating between the imaginary world and the real world of human experience. To know the truth about Jesus, the real human Jesus, it was necessary first to find the historical Jesus who actually lived, and to search for what he actually said and did, not fabrication.
Here we must pause to clarify that the Gospel of Thomas is a manuscript from the manuscripts that were discovered in Nag Hammadi in 1945. It is a collection of religious and philosophical texts that were collected and translated into the Coptic language in the fourth century AD by some Gnostic Christians, then translated in the modern era by a group of famous scholars in the West. The first edition was published in 1978, followed by a revised edition with an introduction to each manuscript in 1988.
What is meant by the word Gnosticism is: immediate access to spiritual knowledge, or in other words: the ascent of man until he reaches divine knowledge. This is the opposite of what the church institution imposes, that "God descended and became human" and imposes this statement based on the necessity of blind faith in it, regardless of its consequences, and not based on reason and logic. Therefore, it besieged Gnosticism and uprooted its followers. However, Gnosticism continued in a dim and obscured manner, along with its followers, until the Nag Hammadi manuscripts were discovered to shed new light on them. From the introduction written by James Robinson, we understand how it continued across different eras, and the extent of its influence in the Middle Ages, then in the Renaissance, then in the Age of Enlightenment, and even to our days, and even the extent of its influence on philosophy, theology, culture, and the arts. The book
"The Five Gospels" represents a dramatic exit by moving away from the approved studies, from which there is no way out or exit to the truth. It also represents the beginning of a new era of research on the Gospels. The participants in the "Jesus Symposium" decided to update all the studies that had been done and to create a new Christian heritage based on the critical studies that had been done in the past two hundred years.
After the publication of Darwin's research on the origin of species in 1859, and the subsequent battles and isolation of scientists working in evangelical research, especially in America, a mentality prevailed that created an atmosphere similar to the Inquisition, with the difference in names and methods. Scientists' opinions and research were accused of being dangerous, and many of them were put on trial, accused of heresy, and suffered the loss of their academic positions. However, the intellectual liberation that prevailed in the twentieth century quickly allowed scientists to reorganize themselves in colleges, universities, and seminars.
With the end of World War II, scientists returned to leadership positions in colleges and universities across the continent. This forced the church establishment to establish its own institutes for evangelical studies in an attempt to confront this new research and to continue to publish what it has been imposing with diligence and force since the fourth century.
One of the most important conflicts between the two sides is the attempt of scholars who criticize historical events and facts and their insistence on continuing their research tirelessly and without hesitation, whatever the outcome, to reach knowledge of what Jesus may have actually said and done from everything attributed to him in the approved gospels and other documents, in which he appears to be in opposition to the prevailing religious traditions, such as not observing the Sabbath, or showing hostility towards his family or their accusing him of madness. Even his disciples seem to be unable to understand his message. This is just one example, and there are many points that remain mysterious to this day, which has placed Jesus openly and without hesitation on the table of disagreement between scholars from both sides.
This situation arose from the fact that the Jesus of beliefs and doctrines, whose image was imposed so fiercely in the Middle Ages by the powerful ecclesiastical authority and by the sword, could no longer control the minds of those who had come to adopt the theories of Galileo, Kepler and Copernicus, since they had removed the old gods from their thrones thanks to the equipment and achievements they had created.
The great leap in astronomy was part of the experimental scientific awakening, which saw all knowledge subjected to science and experimentation. In keeping with this scientific leap, ancient historical data were reconsidered to differentiate between what was real and what was imaginary. In the evangelical field, scientists had to research the relationship between faith and history and separate between them. This is what happened with regard to the search for the historical Jesus.
Thus, historical documents and data became indispensable tools, in the modern era, for researching and differentiating between the imaginary world and the real world of human experience. To know the truth about Jesus, the real human Jesus, it was necessary first to find the historical Jesus who actually lived, and to search for what he actually said and did, not fabrication.
The results of the symposium’s research and discussions were as follows: • Jesus did not tell anyone to believe that his death was an atonement for the sins of mankind • Jesus did not say that he was the Messiah • Jesus did not say that he was the second person of the Trinity • Jesus did not ask his followers to perform periodic confession, repentance, or fasting • He did not threaten anyone with hell nor did he promise anyone heaven • Jesus did not say that he would rise from the dead • He did not say that he was born of a virgin nor did he ask anyone to believe in that • Jesus did not view the texts as infallible or inspired by God! This was officially announced by Robert Funk, the symposium’s chairman, in the summer of 1994. The second phase: 1991-1996 The work of the second phase focused on studying what Jesus might have actually done through what is mentioned in the Gospels. At this stage, 387 reports were studied, covering 176 events or incidents in which Jesus is the main character, even if they include John the Baptist, Simon/Peter, or his brother James, who succeeded him as the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Of the 176 incidents in the Gospels, only ten were considered highly plausible. Thirty others were given a rating of highly plausible. The rest of the acts attributed to Jesus were dismissed as unrealistic or unlikely. By combining the two groups, they arrived at a number of 29 incidents in the Gospels that were plausible out of a total of 176, or 16% of the acts attributed to Jesus. This is slightly less than the 18% of the sayings that were given a rating of plausible. Robert Funk says to those who still believe that the Bible is the word of God, “The 16% plausibility rating is very ironic or ridiculous!”
The reason for excluding 84% of the works attributed to Jesus in the Gospels is due to the origin of those Gospels, which number about twenty Gospels, which arrived from the first three centuries, whether complete or in parts, of which the Church institution adopted only four and formed what is called the New Testament, and destroyed or excluded the rest.
This historical fragility of the Church or Christian origins is due to the fact that the first known small part of the Gospels is a part copied from another text, meaning that the first remaining trace of those texts is not an original text but rather a copied text dating back to more than a hundred years after the “death” of Jesus. The first relatively reliable material trace dates back to the end of the second century AD, about 170 years after Jesus. Therefore, the scholars at the Wistar Institute agreed that, in the absence of any confirmed information, the first of these copies were written by people dating back to the third generation in the last quarter of the first century, based on oral memories that were passed down between generations. They confirmed that these texts were written and rewritten and their stories and events were changed by additions and subtractions for more than a century before they reached their final form - but this does not mean their final form.
The result of this research is that what remains of Jesus' works represents traces of a very faint image of Jesus, which myths and legends have further obscured, an image that requires an open mind and great patience to touch on those faint truths... according to what we read in the introduction attached to the edition of this second volume entitled: "The Acts of Jesus" published in 1998.
After more than ten years of research conducted by this international team to uncover the truth about the life and death of the historical Jesus, they concluded that his historical image is completely different from the traditional image presented by the church institution. They believe that Jesus did not walk on water, did not feed thousands of people, did not turn water into wine, and that he was executed as a rioter and not for saying that he was the son of God! And that those who executed him were the Romans and not the Jews. As for the resurrection process, it is based on the perceptions of Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene, in texts that contradict each other in every detail, so they did not consider them. The third phase: 1996-1998 The third phase included two parallel lines of research, one dealing with the “Features of Jesus” as his various images appear in all the research that preceded the symposium’s work, on the one hand, and on the other hand relying on the results reached in the two previous phases, the first of which was on the “Sayings of Jesus” and the second on the “Acts of Jesus”. Fifteen scholars at the Wistar Institute took on this task , to extract as many convincing features as possible that could be imagined from various aspects. This independent research was published in a collective book entitled “Features of Jesus” in 2002, in which the reader sees features that are completely different from those that have been promoted by official texts woven through the councils throughout the ages.
The question that arises is: Can the sayings and deeds of Jesus, as produced by the symposium, provide a sufficient basis for credible conceptions of Jesus’ features? This is the challenge that a group of contributors to this book took on.
The second line was related to the investigation of what facts are included in the “Acts of the Apostles” that can be relied upon historically, and what is the proportion of what is included in it of facts and what should be excluded from it from what is included in the Gospels. The work of this third stage of studies was published in 1999.
The purpose of this study is to produce a color edition like the two previous books of the sayings and deeds of Jesus. In this way, students of the Bible will be able to be more accurately and more credibly acquainted with the origins of their religion, based on what has been established as true facts. It is
assumed that the “Acts of the Apostles” is historically the first attempt to narrate the origins of Christianity, and it was logical for the New Testament to begin with it and not to come after the Gospels. This arrangement was made to establish a specific image. It is a story written in such a way that its impact continues - even though today it has lost much of its historical credibility.
This loss of credibility is due to the realization and confirmation of the diversity of the origins of Christianity at the beginning of its journey. What is mentioned in the Gospels does not reflect this diversity, but rather deliberately ignores it in order to impose a different point of view. The study of the Acts of the Apostles today confirms that it is a literary work of religious fiction, to review and establish the characteristics of that era. These are facts that cannot withstand the mechanisms of scientific and historical research, and cannot remain in the position they occupied for nearly two thousand years.
The research of the "Jesus Symposium" on the Acts of the Apostles can be divided into four categories: 1) - Classification of its type, which was done as historical writings, but the research revealed a close relationship between it and the Acts of other apostles that the church establishment in early Christianity excluded. This alone necessitates its re-examination and its serious consideration as fictional literature. 2) - The second category of analysis is concerned with the theology and objectives of Luke's Acts. It has been proven that they were formulated with theological orientations. That is, they all follow a theological schedule in order to establish a specific theology and establish its guiding historical data. 3) - The third category deals with the sources of the Acts of the Apostles and their use of previous sources as a source, especially the source Q in addition to other sources. 4) - As for the fourth category, it takes the previous sources to deeper steps in their study and analysis. Even if these sources are reached, the question is: To what extent can they be considered real historical sources and not fabricated? .. This requires more research and scrutiny of each of its data, especially since the Acts of the Apostles remained for a long time out of the microscope of researchers. It is clear that what the "Jesus Symposium" reached
It is completely different from what Christians have believed and continue to believe throughout history, and it is in clear contradiction with prevailing beliefs, as it completely excluded the idea that the Gospels were revealed by God - which the Second Vatican Council had already approved, albeit in twisted terms. The symposium also excluded the idea that those who wrote them were inspired, or even the names by which they are known. Rather, they consider them human documents written by writers who included in them their personal beliefs or the beliefs of those they guide. This is due to all the contradictions between these texts on the one hand, and between them and reason and logic on the other hand.
Although there are those who still believe that these texts are revealed, the scholars of the “Isa Symposium” look at them from another angle, the summary of which is: The message of Jesus and everything related to him passed through an extended period of oral heritage that reaches between thirty and fifty years, which allows for the modification and alteration of the features of any historical or real facts, as no person narrates the same event in the same style, nor with the same emotion, and what is worse than that is when purposes and whims intervene. The fourth stage: 2006 -.... The workers in the “Isa Symposium” began the fourth stage of their research with a symposium on “ Christian Origins,” in which they are writing a new history of early Christianity and Christian writings, using the same means and the same scientific methods used in previous symposia. The "Christian Origins" study seminar aims to reveal the heritage and traditions related to Jesus through a broader vision of Greco-Roman culture, the stage following the construction of the temple and the beginning of the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism, and the extreme diversity among Jesus' followers and their development of the Christian heritage until it was completely severed from its Jewish roots, those roots that the Second Vatican Council in 1965 opened the door wide to retract everything it had woven throughout history, by acquitting the Jews of the blood of Jesus Christ, which contradicts the Gospels in a way that can be said at the very least, that it is one of the main reasons that led thousands of followers to leave the church institution, and to the spread of atheism among them in a way that no eye can ignore. Among the areas that are intended to be researched on the ground are Thessalonica, Galilee, Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa, Alexandria, Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth and Rome. In addition to studying other areas that are considered supportive, including: the role of women, Jews and pagans, Jewish Christianity, Gnosticism, Christianity and the Roman Empire. These meetings began in the town of Thessalonica to study four axes about Christianity to find out whether it began with Jesus, or with the invention of the idea of resurrection, or with the invention of the idea of Easter, or with the missionary operations undertaken by Paul, which radically departed from the teachings of Jesus as they appear in the Gospels. The year 2007 will witness many research activities, seminars, and public lectures in addition to the main topic, which is: “The Origins of Christianity.”
The topics of these public lectures are: Life and Death in the Time of Jesus, Ethics, Evolution and the Future, Early Christianity: Diversity, Not Origins, Jesus and the Twenty-First Century, Religious Movements and How Christianity Began, and the Historical Jesus and the Future of the Church. All of these lectures and seminars form a separate program known as the "Jesus on the Road Seminar." Because many people there cannot attend the two annual meetings due to distance, the Wistar Institute decided to go beyond its walls and reach audiences in various American countries to share their latest findings.
On the sidelines of the "Jesus on the Road Seminar"
This historical fragility of the Church or Christian origins is due to the fact that the first known small part of the Gospels is a part copied from another text, meaning that the first remaining trace of those texts is not an original text but rather a copied text dating back to more than a hundred years after the “death” of Jesus. The first relatively reliable material trace dates back to the end of the second century AD, about 170 years after Jesus. Therefore, the scholars at the Wistar Institute agreed that, in the absence of any confirmed information, the first of these copies were written by people dating back to the third generation in the last quarter of the first century, based on oral memories that were passed down between generations. They confirmed that these texts were written and rewritten and their stories and events were changed by additions and subtractions for more than a century before they reached their final form - but this does not mean their final form.
The result of this research is that what remains of Jesus' works represents traces of a very faint image of Jesus, which myths and legends have further obscured, an image that requires an open mind and great patience to touch on those faint truths... according to what we read in the introduction attached to the edition of this second volume entitled: "The Acts of Jesus" published in 1998.
After more than ten years of research conducted by this international team to uncover the truth about the life and death of the historical Jesus, they concluded that his historical image is completely different from the traditional image presented by the church institution. They believe that Jesus did not walk on water, did not feed thousands of people, did not turn water into wine, and that he was executed as a rioter and not for saying that he was the son of God! And that those who executed him were the Romans and not the Jews. As for the resurrection process, it is based on the perceptions of Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene, in texts that contradict each other in every detail, so they did not consider them. The third phase: 1996-1998 The third phase included two parallel lines of research, one dealing with the “Features of Jesus” as his various images appear in all the research that preceded the symposium’s work, on the one hand, and on the other hand relying on the results reached in the two previous phases, the first of which was on the “Sayings of Jesus” and the second on the “Acts of Jesus”. Fifteen scholars at the Wistar Institute took on this task , to extract as many convincing features as possible that could be imagined from various aspects. This independent research was published in a collective book entitled “Features of Jesus” in 2002, in which the reader sees features that are completely different from those that have been promoted by official texts woven through the councils throughout the ages.
The question that arises is: Can the sayings and deeds of Jesus, as produced by the symposium, provide a sufficient basis for credible conceptions of Jesus’ features? This is the challenge that a group of contributors to this book took on.
The second line was related to the investigation of what facts are included in the “Acts of the Apostles” that can be relied upon historically, and what is the proportion of what is included in it of facts and what should be excluded from it from what is included in the Gospels. The work of this third stage of studies was published in 1999.
The purpose of this study is to produce a color edition like the two previous books of the sayings and deeds of Jesus. In this way, students of the Bible will be able to be more accurately and more credibly acquainted with the origins of their religion, based on what has been established as true facts. It is
assumed that the “Acts of the Apostles” is historically the first attempt to narrate the origins of Christianity, and it was logical for the New Testament to begin with it and not to come after the Gospels. This arrangement was made to establish a specific image. It is a story written in such a way that its impact continues - even though today it has lost much of its historical credibility.
This loss of credibility is due to the realization and confirmation of the diversity of the origins of Christianity at the beginning of its journey. What is mentioned in the Gospels does not reflect this diversity, but rather deliberately ignores it in order to impose a different point of view. The study of the Acts of the Apostles today confirms that it is a literary work of religious fiction, to review and establish the characteristics of that era. These are facts that cannot withstand the mechanisms of scientific and historical research, and cannot remain in the position they occupied for nearly two thousand years.
The research of the "Jesus Symposium" on the Acts of the Apostles can be divided into four categories: 1) - Classification of its type, which was done as historical writings, but the research revealed a close relationship between it and the Acts of other apostles that the church establishment in early Christianity excluded. This alone necessitates its re-examination and its serious consideration as fictional literature. 2) - The second category of analysis is concerned with the theology and objectives of Luke's Acts. It has been proven that they were formulated with theological orientations. That is, they all follow a theological schedule in order to establish a specific theology and establish its guiding historical data. 3) - The third category deals with the sources of the Acts of the Apostles and their use of previous sources as a source, especially the source Q in addition to other sources. 4) - As for the fourth category, it takes the previous sources to deeper steps in their study and analysis. Even if these sources are reached, the question is: To what extent can they be considered real historical sources and not fabricated? .. This requires more research and scrutiny of each of its data, especially since the Acts of the Apostles remained for a long time out of the microscope of researchers. It is clear that what the "Jesus Symposium" reached
It is completely different from what Christians have believed and continue to believe throughout history, and it is in clear contradiction with prevailing beliefs, as it completely excluded the idea that the Gospels were revealed by God - which the Second Vatican Council had already approved, albeit in twisted terms. The symposium also excluded the idea that those who wrote them were inspired, or even the names by which they are known. Rather, they consider them human documents written by writers who included in them their personal beliefs or the beliefs of those they guide. This is due to all the contradictions between these texts on the one hand, and between them and reason and logic on the other hand.
Although there are those who still believe that these texts are revealed, the scholars of the “Isa Symposium” look at them from another angle, the summary of which is: The message of Jesus and everything related to him passed through an extended period of oral heritage that reaches between thirty and fifty years, which allows for the modification and alteration of the features of any historical or real facts, as no person narrates the same event in the same style, nor with the same emotion, and what is worse than that is when purposes and whims intervene. The fourth stage: 2006 -.... The workers in the “Isa Symposium” began the fourth stage of their research with a symposium on “ Christian Origins,” in which they are writing a new history of early Christianity and Christian writings, using the same means and the same scientific methods used in previous symposia. The "Christian Origins" study seminar aims to reveal the heritage and traditions related to Jesus through a broader vision of Greco-Roman culture, the stage following the construction of the temple and the beginning of the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism, and the extreme diversity among Jesus' followers and their development of the Christian heritage until it was completely severed from its Jewish roots, those roots that the Second Vatican Council in 1965 opened the door wide to retract everything it had woven throughout history, by acquitting the Jews of the blood of Jesus Christ, which contradicts the Gospels in a way that can be said at the very least, that it is one of the main reasons that led thousands of followers to leave the church institution, and to the spread of atheism among them in a way that no eye can ignore. Among the areas that are intended to be researched on the ground are Thessalonica, Galilee, Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa, Alexandria, Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth and Rome. In addition to studying other areas that are considered supportive, including: the role of women, Jews and pagans, Jewish Christianity, Gnosticism, Christianity and the Roman Empire. These meetings began in the town of Thessalonica to study four axes about Christianity to find out whether it began with Jesus, or with the invention of the idea of resurrection, or with the invention of the idea of Easter, or with the missionary operations undertaken by Paul, which radically departed from the teachings of Jesus as they appear in the Gospels. The year 2007 will witness many research activities, seminars, and public lectures in addition to the main topic, which is: “The Origins of Christianity.”
The topics of these public lectures are: Life and Death in the Time of Jesus, Ethics, Evolution and the Future, Early Christianity: Diversity, Not Origins, Jesus and the Twenty-First Century, Religious Movements and How Christianity Began, and the Historical Jesus and the Future of the Church. All of these lectures and seminars form a separate program known as the "Jesus on the Road Seminar." Because many people there cannot attend the two annual meetings due to distance, the Wistar Institute decided to go beyond its walls and reach audiences in various American countries to share their latest findings.
On the sidelines of the "Jesus on the Road Seminar"
Cover image of the Bible of Thomas Jefferson, former US President
The efforts of the “Jesus Seminar” to exclude what has been attached to his message throughout the ages, or to try to restore followers to the religion from which they fled for one reason or another, are not new. There are many attempts that have been made, including, but not limited to: one dating back to the beginning of the eighteenth century, and another to the year 2005.
Thomas Jefferson , the patriotic citizen - as they call him - and the former President of the United States of America, had previously done the same thing in the year 1700, when he took scissors and began to exclude everything that was not acceptable to reason and logic or everything that contradicted the law of nature from the texts of the Bible. Then he pasted the remaining parts to come out with a Bible that could be read and take its stories and teachings. When he finished his project, he was left with only 82 columns out of 700 columns representing the edition of the Bible known as the King James Version , meaning that he had excluded nearly 90% of the contents of the original Bible, and he called his choices: “The Life and Morals of Jesus.” As for Another attempt was made by the Reverend Michael Hinton in England, in Canterbury Cathedral. On September 21, 2005, the British BBC announced the release of a new edition of the Bible, which its author, Reverend Michael Hinton, says can be read in less than two hours, or exactly in a hundred minutes! He explained that he focused on Jesus, as the main character in the Bible. The Reverend John Pritchard, Bishop of Jarrow, supervised the book, saying: I don’t think most people know the Bible very well, and this attempt is intended to draw the reader’s attention, saying: Look, we have a great story here, let’s delve into it and not stop at the trivialities, and let us present to you the most important part of it! It took Reverend Hinton more than two years to remove what is in the sixty-six chapters that make up the Bible, to arrive at a coherent text, with the most famous
Thomas Jefferson , the patriotic citizen - as they call him - and the former President of the United States of America, had previously done the same thing in the year 1700, when he took scissors and began to exclude everything that was not acceptable to reason and logic or everything that contradicted the law of nature from the texts of the Bible. Then he pasted the remaining parts to come out with a Bible that could be read and take its stories and teachings. When he finished his project, he was left with only 82 columns out of 700 columns representing the edition of the Bible known as the King James Version , meaning that he had excluded nearly 90% of the contents of the original Bible, and he called his choices: “The Life and Morals of Jesus.” As for Another attempt was made by the Reverend Michael Hinton in England, in Canterbury Cathedral. On September 21, 2005, the British BBC announced the release of a new edition of the Bible, which its author, Reverend Michael Hinton, says can be read in less than two hours, or exactly in a hundred minutes! He explained that he focused on Jesus, as the main character in the Bible. The Reverend John Pritchard, Bishop of Jarrow, supervised the book, saying: I don’t think most people know the Bible very well, and this attempt is intended to draw the reader’s attention, saying: Look, we have a great story here, let’s delve into it and not stop at the trivialities, and let us present to you the most important part of it! It took Reverend Hinton more than two years to remove what is in the sixty-six chapters that make up the Bible, to arrive at a coherent text, with the most famous
Photo of Pastor Michael Hinton holding his Short Bible.
Stories or most popular ones in addition to what is related to Jesus.
All of these are attempts to give new credibility to those texts that followers in the Christian West are distancing themselves from day after day, to encourage them to read without being repelled by anything that does not conform to reason and logic.
Besieging the Jesus Symposium!
As usual, the “Jesus Symposium” did not escape the traditional siege of the Vatican church institution, which quickly began to commission its teams of scholars, publish multiple websites, in addition to resorting to all media outlets to limit the effects of its research on followers.
Among the criticisms issued by these teams against the works of the “Jesus Symposium” was its exclusion of the eschatological messages from the sayings and deeds of Jesus, and its attempt to add different features that diminished the research value of what they were doing, and that the results they reached were specific to the opinions of the scholars participating in the symposium, and that the opinions they put forward were linked to their personal inclinations and were preconceived opinions! Only fourteen of the scholars participating in the symposium are considered by opponents to be scholars involved in the field of the New Testament, while the remaining two hundred are seen as having no scientific weight! Some have even gone so far as to criticize the symposium, claiming that its work is a "destructive critique," according to Daniel Akin in the Southern Baptist newspaper. The Fundamentalist Missionary Society, the Interpretive Guardian Society, and the Christian Arsenal Society have all accused the Jesus Symposium of being "a tool in the hands of Satan to destroy Christian beliefs." James White commented, saying: "To rebuild Christianity, they say, the symposium workers must get rid of the basic things that stand in their way: the church, with all its doctrines and beliefs, and especially the information it provides about Christ. Regardless of the meager information the press provides about the "Jesus Symposium," it is waging a crusade to amputate the authority of the texts, the historicity of Jesus Christ, and the foundations of the Christian faith!"
Besieging the Jesus Symposium!
As usual, the “Jesus Symposium” did not escape the traditional siege of the Vatican church institution, which quickly began to commission its teams of scholars, publish multiple websites, in addition to resorting to all media outlets to limit the effects of its research on followers.
Among the criticisms issued by these teams against the works of the “Jesus Symposium” was its exclusion of the eschatological messages from the sayings and deeds of Jesus, and its attempt to add different features that diminished the research value of what they were doing, and that the results they reached were specific to the opinions of the scholars participating in the symposium, and that the opinions they put forward were linked to their personal inclinations and were preconceived opinions! Only fourteen of the scholars participating in the symposium are considered by opponents to be scholars involved in the field of the New Testament, while the remaining two hundred are seen as having no scientific weight! Some have even gone so far as to criticize the symposium, claiming that its work is a "destructive critique," according to Daniel Akin in the Southern Baptist newspaper. The Fundamentalist Missionary Society, the Interpretive Guardian Society, and the Christian Arsenal Society have all accused the Jesus Symposium of being "a tool in the hands of Satan to destroy Christian beliefs." James White commented, saying: "To rebuild Christianity, they say, the symposium workers must get rid of the basic things that stand in their way: the church, with all its doctrines and beliefs, and especially the information it provides about Christ. Regardless of the meager information the press provides about the "Jesus Symposium," it is waging a crusade to amputate the authority of the texts, the historicity of Jesus Christ, and the foundations of the Christian faith!"
Image of the cover of The Da Vinci Code
The most striking thing about this last statement is the reference to the “little” information provided by the press about the Jesus Symposium! It is clear that this “little” information is undoubtedly the result of the pressure exerted by groups affiliated with the church institution, such as the “Opus Dei” organization and many others, to not publicize these works.
By merely browsing the names of the opposition front and the weakness of its criticisms, the reader realizes the level of that criticism and its motives, especially since they have avoided any scientific confrontation or scientific discussion, but rather merely criticisms.
And wounds... These are efforts that usually only yield results in developing countries and those with Christian minorities that control them in one way or another...
And in the past two years (2005-2006) we witnessed an example of these examples in the siege of "The Da Vinci Code" of both the novel and the film taken from it. We have seen how the strenuous efforts of the opposition Vatican teams have only succeeded in third world countries and those with Christian minorities (we have mentioned the details in a previous article). The main reason that drives this church institution to fight and eradicate anyone who disagrees with it is that spreading this information among the masses harms the missionary operations that have become increasingly bold, thanks to political umbrellas and deterrent laws that were unfortunately formulated specifically to protect them.
It is sufficient to point out here that all this scientific effort undertaken by the Wistar Institute since 1985 until today has not been mentioned by the media in Egypt, in all its vastness and diversity, except in a single article published in Al-Dustour newspaper on 10/12/2005 under another topic, as if the issue was incidental and not intended to be explained in detail! Which, in itself, in such a complicit climate, is considered a good deed for whoever wrote it.
After this brief presentation of the works of the “Jesus Symposium” at the Wistar Institute in the United States, all that remains is to await the results of its latest research, not only in relation to the origins of Christianity, but also to all its components that were formulated by councils throughout the ages. This can be reviewed and confirmed by reading the approved Gospels, especially in their old editions, before much of it was modified from one edition to another, in order to add some logic to it or for the sake of evangelism. God Almighty said in His Noble Book: {So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands and then say, “This is from God,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they have not written.} They earn} [Al-Baqarah: 79].
And in the past two years (2005-2006) we witnessed an example of these examples in the siege of "The Da Vinci Code" of both the novel and the film taken from it. We have seen how the strenuous efforts of the opposition Vatican teams have only succeeded in third world countries and those with Christian minorities (we have mentioned the details in a previous article). The main reason that drives this church institution to fight and eradicate anyone who disagrees with it is that spreading this information among the masses harms the missionary operations that have become increasingly bold, thanks to political umbrellas and deterrent laws that were unfortunately formulated specifically to protect them.
It is sufficient to point out here that all this scientific effort undertaken by the Wistar Institute since 1985 until today has not been mentioned by the media in Egypt, in all its vastness and diversity, except in a single article published in Al-Dustour newspaper on 10/12/2005 under another topic, as if the issue was incidental and not intended to be explained in detail! Which, in itself, in such a complicit climate, is considered a good deed for whoever wrote it.
After this brief presentation of the works of the “Jesus Symposium” at the Wistar Institute in the United States, all that remains is to await the results of its latest research, not only in relation to the origins of Christianity, but also to all its components that were formulated by councils throughout the ages. This can be reviewed and confirmed by reading the approved Gospels, especially in their old editions, before much of it was modified from one edition to another, in order to add some logic to it or for the sake of evangelism. God Almighty said in His Noble Book: {So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands and then say, “This is from God,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they have not written.} They earn} [Al-Baqarah: 79].
Scientific references:
Westar site
Robert Funk & the Jesus Seminar :
* The Five Gospels :
the search for the authentic words of Jesus, 1993
* Acts of Jesus: What Jesus really does? 1998
* The Gospel of Jesus, according to the Jesus Seminar, 1999
the search for the authentic words of Jesus, 1993
* Acts of Jesus: What Jesus really does? 1998
* The Gospel of Jesus, according to the Jesus Seminar, 1999
Jean-Yves Leloup :
* L'évange de Thomas, Albin Michel, 1986
* L'évange de Marie, " " 1997
* L'évange de Philippe, " " 2003
* L'évange de Thomas, Albin Michel, 1986
* L'évange de Marie, " " 1997
* L'évange de Philippe, " " 2003
John Dominic Crossan :
* Four other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of the Canon
* Four other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of the Canon
Robert J. Miller, editor :
* The Complete Gospels: all twenty of the known
* The Complete Gospels: all twenty of the known
Gospels
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