Are you feeling a failure as the new year starts?
2,000 years after the Pharisees muttered against their Messiah, the religious world is at it again.
Elizabeth Fiorenza in her book Jesus: Miriam's and Sophia's Prophet Child enlists Jesus as her champion against male domination, while Barbara Thierring unlocks the secrets of Jesus' life and discovers that he is a wicked priest of Qumram! Martin Smith writes about Jesus the Magician - the title says it all. But the real headline-snatcher is Dr. Robert Funk's - The Five Gospels, and his search for the authentic words of Jesus.
Dr. Funk gathered a team of scholars to search for the authentic sayings of Jesus. And their method? Each man dropping different coloured beads into a bucket, the colour of the bead signifying a vote for authenticity or otherwise. The result is staggering: we can only be certain that 18% of Jesus' sayings are authentic! John's Gospel was entirely discarded. Time Magazine reported: 'Just about all we know of the real Jesus it seems is that he had a disciple named Mary Magdalene, entered a synagogue at least once, and met some Pharisees.'
