Name Robert Funk | Organizations founded Westar Institute | |
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Died September 3, 2005, Santa Rosa, California, United States Education Vanderbilt University (1953), Butler University Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada Books Honest to Jesus: Jesus for, A beginning‑intermediate grammar, A Credible Jesus, The Parables of Jesus: Re, Jesus as precursor | ||
Robert W. Funk (July 18, 1926 – September 3, 2005), was an American biblical scholar, founder of the controversial Jesus Seminar and the nonprofit Westar Institute in Santa Rosa, California. Funk, an academic, sought to promote research and education on what he called biblical literacy. His approach to hermeneutics was historical-critical, with a strongly skeptical view of orthodox Christian belief, particularly concerning historical Jesus. He and his peers described Jesus' parables as containing shocking messages that contradicted established religious attitudes.
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Funk had a Bachelor of Divinity and Master's degree from Butler University and its affiliated Christian Theological Seminary in 1950 and 1951, a PhD in 1953 from Vanderbilt University and was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Senior Fulbright Scholar.
He taught at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, was chairman of the graduate department of religion at Vanderbilt University and executive secretary of the Society of Biblical Literature. He was founder and first executive director of Scholars Press (1974–1980).