Robert W. Funk and The Jesus Seminar have recently published The Acts of Jesus – What did Jesus really do? This follows the book on what Jesus really said.

      The seminar "fellows" (you probably remember) vote their selections with colored "beans" — Red: the authentic acts of Jesus, Pink: a close approximation of what Jesus did, Gray: stories that show minimal historical traces, and Black: stories that are improbable or fictive.

      Being in the Jesus business for almost 50 years it is not surprising that I should retain some interest in the subject. So I put out my $35.00 and bought the book.

      Having followed the scholarship, as well as doing some free-lance thinking along the way, I had a pretty good idea what I might find. I immediately opened the book and fanned through the pages seeking stories highlighted in color. There were occasional patches of pink, some blue, lots of black and only occasional bits of red. The next step was to find out whether any of my favorite stories had any chance of having actually happened.

      The quickest way to find out about how your favorite stories fared color-wise is to turn to page 558. A list of 176 "acts of Jesus" appears, based on Gospel texts, including the Sayings Gospel Q, the Gospel of Peter, and the Gospel of Thomas. You look up the story, then check for a color. On page 566 – 566 is an index of red and pink events.

      For instance, I always liked the notion that Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners. Did he? I looked it up. There are four mentions of the incident. The stories drew two reds, a pink and a gray. That's very good.

      As a sailor I've always liked the story of Jesus quieting the storm. I've always thought the story to be somewhat apocryphal, but I hoped it might have some authentic roots. Rats! As I suspected, all references are voted black.

      The story of the loaves and fishes—what I've called the original church potluck supper—has always appealed to me. I thought the story could have roots as an example of how sharing and generosity multiplies. According to the scholars, it's all black. Didn't happen.

      Nor did walking on the water, of course, nor the last supper, nor the burial, nor the empty tomb. The birth narratives are likewise black.

      Is anything red? Interestingly, a good deal of John the Baptist material is considered authentic, including John's baptism of Jesus.  Jesus' mission statement in Mark 1:14 – 15 gets a red vote, as does the beheading of John the Baptist by Herod. The death of Jesus by crucifixion is considered fact.

      More acts get a pink rating as having authentic beginnings, though corrupted in transmission.  The story of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, for instance, is pink.  So is the story about the woman with the hemorrhage and eating with defiled hands. I'm glad to see that the story of the blind man of Bethsaida drew a pink.

      There were some gray designations as well, but most of the reported acts of Jesus were black. The scholars didn't think they happened.

      A summary of the basic facts known about Jesus is found on pages 527 to 534.

      This must disheartening news for the average church-goer who has been shielded from news of ongoing biblical scholarship of this past century. It is even more disheartening news for the preacher committed to preaching the Gospel and telling the truth. I wondered at a recent Funeral Mass how the Priest could kiss the Bible and purify it with incense before reading, and declare the text he read from the Gospel of Luke, which has no scholarly basis, then declare, "This is the word of the Lord." I know that he knows the history of the scholarship of the text he read. Like most clergy, he ignores such knowledge when performing his priestly duties.

      If the stories don't have roots in authentic acts of Jesus, what do we do with them?

      The final chapter of the book makes a case for telling the stories anyway. Even when the texts are the fictional creation of the Gospel writers and editors, they carry Christian tradition and a history of faith. At the heart of these stories is a faith core, a sense of spirit, which the writers intend to reflect the spirit of Jesus as they understand it. The faith depends, after all, not on the authenticity of the story, but of the authenticity of spirit.

      I never worried too much about whether Jesus really did all that was claimed for him. The fact that people talked and wrote about him, that he was remembered at all, tells us that there was much to commend him. That his followers magnified memories and incidents, does not mean we must forget the man completely. In reality Jesus did many more things than have been reported. Unfortunately, these are beyond reclaiming.

      For those who find this kind of scholarship disturbing, it is all the more important to give careful reading to this book. Read the first 40 pages. You will have a better biblical education than most people who go to church every Sunday. You will have a more informed view of the story of Jesus than most of the radio preachers and TV evangelists.

      If you end up disagreeing with the Scholars conclusions, at least you will have an understanding of how they came to their conclusions. They are not a bunch of "bible busters," but people who have devoted a lifetime of scholarship to finding as much of the truth as possible about this compelling figure we call Jesus. The search goes on.