Among those who work outside of the normal canons of historical research is "The Jesus Seminar,  a gathering of the skeptical-minded whose conclusions are published in The Five Gospels. Instead of demonstrating historical objectivity, their enterprise is a stacked deck of hostile presuppositions. (CA.N)

Qbaal replies: If you have Christians promoting a God who demands blood sacrifice, who did not create man through evolutionary processes, and aims to punish his enemies horribly in fire all eternity, then you surely need to exercise the skeptical facility to the uttermost. 

"Hostile presuppositions" are not objectively so. Not in the minds of The Jesus Seminar, for sure. Perhaps, hostile in the minds of more conservative Christians. 

However, the basic stance of The Jesus Seminar is to apply the same principles of objective historical research used in any modern university's history department to the gospels of the New Testament. And, to my mind, it is this objectivity which is at odds with the subjective bias of conservative theologians of the first or twentieth centuries.  A bias unacknowledged.

The application of secular norms of historical research does not guarantee possession of 100% truth religious or otherwise. Yet, Christianity, like Judaism, speaks of a God active in history. Real history, tough history where the Roman empire conquers and exploits. History that must be observed, recorded and, more subjectivity, interpreted. So I don't see the pursuit of historical truth re Jesus nor the application of principles of good historical research to ancient Palestine as "hostile." Obviously, The Jesus Seminar certainly does not. Even if the history is obviously at variance with Bible stories.

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Qbaal highlight The Jesus Seminar at his web site

http://http://delited.tripod.com/index.htm