Editing Jesus Seminar (section)

===Inappropriate emphasis on flawed criteria===
Numerous scholars have criticized the Seminar for placing too much value on the [[criterion of dissimilarity]]. For the Seminar, a saying will only be held as authentic if it does ''not'' match the beliefs of Judaism or those held by the early Christians. Critics such as Gregory Boyd have noted that the effect of this is that the Jesus of the Seminar shows no continuity with his Jewish context nor his disciples.<ref>Gregory A. Boyd, [http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/apologetics/new-testament/are-the-gospels-reliable/ The Jesus Seminar and the Reliability of the Gospels]</ref> Raymond Brown has stated that "a rigorous application of such criteria would leave us with a monstrosity: a Jesus who never said, thought, or did anything that other Jews said, thought, or did, and a Jesus who had no connection or relationship to what his followers said, thought, or did in reference to him after he died."<ref>Brown, Raymond E. (1997). ''An Introduction to the New Testament''. Doubleday. p. 827. {{ISBN|9780385247672}}</ref> J. Ed Komoszewski and co-authors state that the Jesus Seminar's "Criteria for In/Authenticity" creates "an eccentric Jesus who learned nothing from his own culture and made no impact on his followers".<ref>{{cite book  | last = Komoszewski | first = J. Ed| title = Reinventing Jesus | publisher = Kregel Publication | year = 2006 | page = 49  |display-authors=etal}}</ref> The same criticism has been made by Craig Evans.<ref name="Fabricating Jesus">[[Craig A. Evans]], "Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels," InterVarsity Press, 2006 {{ISBN|0-8308-3318-8}}</ref>