Jesus Project update
Since my initial post about the Jesus Project, the discussion has continued among bloggers and members of e-mail discussion lists. Mark Goodacre reportedly posted to the Crosstalk e-mail list (to which I don’t subscribe, hence the word “reportedly”) a comment to the effect that Richard Bauckham, listed on the Project web site as a Project fellow, has no knowledge of or ties to the project. Similarly, Jeffrey Gibson reported to the Biblical Studies Discussion List that John Dominic Crossan, also listed as a Project fellow, has no interest in the Project and doesn’t want his name associated with it.
I have not yet received a reply from my e-mail to CSER regarding the Project and the list of fellows, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the list of fellows is, at best, wishful thinking on the part of the Project organizers. But that’s being overly generous. The Project organizers have listed a number of scholars as Project fellows for the purposes of securing some degree of recognition and confidence in the Project—even though a number of these scholars have no knowledge of the Project and/or no desire to be involved in the Project. If the Fellows page had said “We hope these people will join in” or “These are the kind of people we want,” that would be a case of overweening optimism. But the CSER seems to be feeding information like the following to reporters (well, specifically, one reporter, Jennifer Green of Can[ada]West News Service and/or the Ottawa Citizen—sorry, the bylines aren’t terribly clear):
In January, the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER), a secularly minded organization in Amherst, N. Y., launched a five-year initiative called the Jesus Project in which 50 scholars across many disciplines will try to determine the hard facts behind the human figure of Jesus, including whether He really existed. …
So far, about 70 scholars have expressed an interest in joining the project. About 39 have been vetted and added to the team. The remainder are expected to be in place by early May.
Some of these “fellows” did speak at a “Scripture and Skepticism” conference, but I don’t think they realized they were being added as “fellows” of this Jesus Project. We now know for certain that Bauckham and Kloppenborg—whose names have now disappeared from the list of fellows—and Tabor, and Crossan—whose names are still on the list of fellows—did not know themselves to be “fellows” of the Jesus Project until the web site went up a few days ago (there’s also a blog, but no posts—only a pitch for donations in the sidebar), and Crossan isn’t interested.
So what we have here is something in the range of:
- a rush to put up a web site before all the ducks (er, fellows) were in a row; or
- a strange definition of “fellow” as “anyone who has been invited to speak at one of our conferences, or whom we would like to have participating in this venture”; or
- a case of para-academic fraud.
It’s hard not to feel the strong pull of the third item in the list, though I’m holding out for one of the other two, or some combination thereof.
4 comments Christopher Heard | Christian history, professional societies
On other hand, the “project” rank as “scholars”, some Jesus Mythologists who are in fact amateurs in historical Jesus studies, and notorius internet atheists.
Please, take a look on the “curricula” of some “fellows” of Jesus Project, in the project’s site:
Timothy Freke
“Timothy Freke is a well-known author, in the scholarly sphere as well as the general public. He is considered an authority on Gnosticism and world mysticism” (…) He holds a degree in philosophy and has co-authored numerous pieces centered on world mysticism and Gnosticism with Peter Gandy”
Frank Zindler
Frank Zindler is currently the editor of “American Atheist Magazine” and Director of American Atheist Press. A recognized member of the ongoing debate on creationist pseudoscience and evolution, he has been a biology, psychobiology and geology professor for many years. (…) Zindler has written and spoken extensively on Biblical history, creationism and evolution and the historicity of Jesus”.
In fact, I have no doubt that is “a case of para-academic fraud”
[...] on this Jesus Project fiasco from Christopher [...]
I have a fourth option: A bunch of Jesus-Mythicists who want to force their theory into the mainstream by holding a well-advertised conference that would gain publicity by featuring some big names like John Dominic Crossan. Unfortunately, the part about getting big names appeares to have backfired.
[...] quite prematurely, as some of us had previously speculated. You may remember that I wrote in an earlier post: So what we have here is something in the range [...]