What makes a fellow a fellow?
I don’t blog much about “historical Jesus” issues, because my scholarly interests lie a bit earlier, chronologically, than the life of Jesus. However, the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion has been getting some press (possibly “orchestrated”) for its new Jesus Project. This Jesus Project (there are other organizations with the same name) bills itself as the successor to the Jesus Seminar, and in brief, its plan is as follows:
The Jesus Project will run for five years, with its first session scheduled for December 2007. It will meet twice a year, and, like its predecessor, the Jesus Seminar, it will hold open meetings. Unlike the Seminar, the Project members will not vote with marbles, and we will not expand membership indefinitely: the Project will be limited to fifty scholars with credentials in biblical studies as well as in the crucial cognate disciplines of ancient history, mythography, archaeology, classical studies, anthropology, and social history.
The web site has a list of Project “fellows” that includes some heavy-hitters in the field and some names that I’m surprised to see there (what do Walter Brueggemann and David Noel Freedman have to do with historical Jesus studies?). The page even has sub-pages for each of the “fellows.” Curiously, however, at least one of the Project “fellows” has never heard of the project. James Tabor writes on his Jesus Dynasty blog:
Although I am quite happy to be ranked among my superiors as “some of the biggest names in biblical studies today,” I think there is a bit of confusion between the upcoming conference, Scripture and Skepticism, at the University of California at Davis, and the formation of a group called The Jesus Project. Although I and lots of others will be reading papers or giving responses at the conference, this is the first I have heard of any Project of this description.
It’s not just a confused reporter, James; the organization is touting your involvement as a fellow, and that of many others—in a Project you know nothing about! (I would have left a comment on James’s blog, but he doesn’t seem to have enabled that feature, or else I could not find the appropriate link.)
A few minutes ago I dug up an e-mail address on the CSER web site and sent the following inquiry:
I wonder if you could clear up some confusion for me about the recently-publicized Jesus Project (http://www.jesus-project.com). The Project’s web site lists a number of Project “fellows” (http://www.jesus-project.com/fellows.htm), but at least one of these scholars, James Tabor, says he’s never heard of The Jesus Project (http://jesusdynasty.com/blog/2007/01/12/the-jesus-project/). What exactly is the status of these “fellows” in relationship to the Project? Is this a list of people who have agreed to be part of the Project, or a list of people the Project management is planning into invite to the December 2007 conference? Many people in the “bibloblog” circle are very interested in this question.
I’ll let you know what I learn.
Update: See now April DeConick’s post on this topic; according to the Jesus Project web site, she’s a fellow.
8 comments Christopher Heard | Christian history, biblical world, professional societies
They must using “fellows” as the older generations do, meaning merely something like “guys” to us young whippersnappers.
The Jesus Project Guys. Cute.
Certainly they couldn’t be implying that there’s any serious involvement on the part of these guys, since that would be lying, of course.
Ahem.
[...] research lest someone else “steal” my idea. The Jesus Project that has garnered some unwelome attention latley, at least has at its heart the goal of bringing scholars together in a collaborative [...]
Well, I feel snubbed. I haven’t published anything on the historical Jesus, but I have taught some courses on it and I do teach Jewish literature and history of the period. I guess, as Kevin points out, I am just not old enough to be a “fellow” but merely a “lad.”
[...] blurb on her blog here. Frankly, this organization is starting to sound a bit creepy. Check out Christopher Heard’s post, and Chris Zeichman’s post. Why is this project associating people with it who have not been [...]
[...] by James Tabor, A new and informative post from April DeConick (see also the comments here), from Chris Heard, one on Novum Testamentum, and at Withering Fig. The crosstalk2 list has been discussing it, too. [...]
[...] have been taken in vain, it seems, as supposed fellows of the project. There are good posts from Chris Heard, Jim West and James McGrath among others that point to a layer of at best optimistic confusion [...]
The blog from Tabor was posted way back in January, even before the conference when the JP was announced. There had been confusion within the press about the connection between the conference and the Project, and it was cleared up. I do believe his post is no longer relevant.
[...] reported a couple days ago on The Jesus Project. Now the whole project is looking screwier every minute, as Chris Heard (and many others!) are finding [...]