# Help me find this red-pink-gray-letter edition of the Bible

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 16, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152 "2004-08-16T22:07:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152/1 "2004-08-16T22:07:11Z")

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A few years ago, I read in a magazine (I think it was _Time_) that a group of Biblical scholars (none of them fundamentalists, needless to say) were working on a new edition of the Bible. In some Bibles, all words recorded as having been spoken by Jesus are printed in red. In this one, those words would be ranked by order of probably authenticity: Words all scholars agree almost certainly were spoken by Jesus would be printed in red, words of more doubtful authenticy in pink, and words of still more doubtful authenticity in gray.

Did they ever finish the project? And, if so, where can I find the Bible edition they produced? Does it have a name?

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**Author:** ![Josh\_dePlume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Josh\_dePlume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Josh_dePlume)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152/2 "2004-08-16T22:14:21Z")

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Sounds like the Jesus Seminar: [http://religion.rutgers.edu/jseminar/jsem\_b.html](http://religion.rutgers.edu/jseminar/jsem_b.html).

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**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152/3 "2004-08-16T22:19:15Z")

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And their published work was called “The Five Gospels” - it’s available from [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152/4 "2004-08-16T22:20:28Z")

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The group is called “The Jesus Seminar”. In 1993, they put out an edition of the gospels called “The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus”. You can find it here:

[http://westarinstitute.org/Polebridge/Title/5Gospels/5gospels.html](http://westarinstitute.org/Polebridge/Title/5Gospels/5gospels.html)

or at Borders or Barnes and Noble’s.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-red-pink-gray-letter-edition-of-the-bible/260152/5 "2004-08-16T22:58:55Z")

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Thanx, guys!