Jesus Seminar - On the Road...I'm catching it in Madison this month

I'll be in Berkeley for the J. S Annual meeting the third week in Nov.

which was formed when Bob Funk made it known that Girardians would NOT be presenting at gatherings of the Jesus Seminar. Rene' Girard had the audacity to question Bultmann's work in a presentation to the JS. That was the birth of COV&R. Like Girard, I'm not a fan of Bultmann, either.

but what is the Girardians' problem with it?

Remember, it's the JS which doesn't allow Girardian lectures or presentations, not the other way around.

The work of the Jesus Seminar is founded on that of Rudolph Bultmann, who taught that the NT is largely "myth". Bultmann's great hope was to make the NT palatable to moderns, by softening the violence and downplaying the supernatural elements. Girardians reject the vast majority of Bultmann's work, instead arguing that the point of biblical violence is to open our eyes to human violence and the ways in which following Jesus' teachings can move us to make peace. Thus, Girardians believe that nearly all of the words attributed to Jesus are genuine; that much of the NT is historical, or at least told in ways in which it was told in the early church. Girardians will often say that Bultmann's "de-mythologizing" created more myths than it did away with, by teaching liberal Christians to ignore large parts of the NT that are really crucial.

Also, Girardians tend to see the JS as making scripture palatable to well-educated, white audiences, by making Jesus a but too well-educated and white, by fitting Jesus into modern categories (like the Marxist revolutionary Jesus of JD Crossan), rather than letting Jesus stand on his own as the challenger of all human culture which we (Girardians) believe him to be.

In short, Girardians don't think the Jesus Seminar takes scripture seriously enough. By voting, for instance, on which bits of the Gospels Jesus may actually have said, JS members are given an excuse to not take seriously the parts which lose the vote. Girardians would say all of the NT is important...and that Jesus probably said nearly everything attributed to him, no matter how many colored marbles you drop in a hat.

It's the challenging of Bultmann that got Girardians uninvited to the Jesus Seminar. That's okay. COV&R is way more fun, anyway. :)