I did not know that the Jesus Seminar..

[Norbert L]

.. is being used by magazines on a regular yearly basis in stores during the Christmas and Easter seasons. Basically I would not of thought that a magazine shelf at the corner store may also be used as a one sided apologetic forum.

There are a few other tidbits of info Dr. Heiser talks about that I wasn't aware of below:

 

[PloverWing]

For what it's worth, the idea of the historical Jesus as distinct from the Christ of faith is much older than the Jesus Seminar. Note, for example, Strauss' The Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History (1865) and Schweitzer's The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906).

I do the grocery shopping in my family, so I have seen the "historical Jesus" magazine covers at the checkout line. I haven't read the articles, though (I'm usually too busy loading my groceries onto the cashier's conveyor belt), so I don't know if the articles focus on the Jesus Seminar in particular, or if they look at the question more generally. Maybe I'll peek at one next Easter.

 

[hedrick]

This web page, from the group that sponsored it, suggests that it ended in 1998. The Jesus Seminar - Westar Institute

 

[Martinius]

Regarding the magazine shelves at the grocery checkout, I think that comes under two principles: One is the First Amendment, and the second is sales and profits. Since I have never read any of them, I don't know whether these special editions feature or promote the theories of the Jesus Seminar people. I too will take a few minutes to look through one the next chance I get.

As was stated above, the discussion about the historical Jesus versus the Christ of faith has been going on for at least 150 years. If one goes back to writings of the Enlightenment, you could add another 100 or more years to that. The Jesus Seminar people did their work and published in the 1990's, so their participation in this discussion is almost 30 years old in itself. Heiser may have meant that the popular awareness of the debate began with the Jesus Seminar, which would have been more accurate. He implies at one point that this group is still active, but it is not. Perhaps the video itself is from the 1990's.

 

[Martinius]

Okaayyy....Heiser says the work of the Jesus Seminar was "radical", yet he is a big proponent of the "divine council" idea, which implies a whole boatload of deities not One God. He appears to be as far outside the orthodox norm, if not more so, than the Seminar folks. My suggestion is to check someone out, as well as what they claim, before granting them too much credibility. IOW, do a little research.