About Westar

Honest, rigorous inquiry into the origins of the Christian tradition.

Critical, collaborative and cumulative scholarship, carried out in public and for the public, since 1985.

Who we are

Bridging scholarship and the public conversation about religion

Westar Institute is a member-supported nonprofit research and education organization. It bridges the gap between scholarship about religion and the way religion is understood in popular culture.

Our mission has two parts:

01
Research
We conduct collaborative and cumulative research in the academic study of religion, on the issues, questions and controversies that matter both to scholars and to the general public.
02
Communication
We share the results of our research in non-technical terms, so the public has the tools to critically evaluate competing claims about religion.

Westar is not affiliated with any religious institution or denomination, and does not advocate a particular theological point of view.

1985The Jesus Seminar begins in Berkeley, California

1986Westar Institute is founded to support it

200+Trained scholars took part across the Seminar's phases

6Major seminars, from the historical Jesus to the Christ Seminar

We are not embarking on this venture in a corner. We are going to carry out our work in full public view … not because our wisdom is superior, but because we are committed to public accountability.

Robert W. FunkWestar founder

What guides us

Our commitments

Accessibility

We communicate the results of our research so that religious scholarship is accessible to everyone.

Agency

We equip the public with the tools to think critically about religion for themselves.

Accountability

Our work is sound only to the extent that it is open to critical public scrutiny.

Our history

Scholarship in public, and for the public

In 1985 Robert W. Funk invited 30 New Testament scholars to join a new, collaborative inquiry into Jesus as a figure of history. The focus was on the evidence for what Jesus, in all probability, actually said and did, without privileging traditional religious claims about him.

Funk believed scholars of religion have an ethical responsibility to report their findings openly and clearly, and that a large lay audience was eager to join the conversation. Four decades on, Westar remains a hub for research, public education and community engagement.

Read the full history

1985–1998
The Jesus Seminar
The quest for the historical Jesus: his sayings, deeds and profiles.
1993–2010
Paul Seminar
A fresh look at the apostle Paul and his authentic letters.
1996–1998
Acts Seminar
The Acts of the Apostles as a source for Christian beginnings.
2006–2020
Christianity Seminar
The origins of the Christian tradition in its first centuries.
2014–2020
God & the Human Future
A theological project on God, religion and the human future.
2022–today
The Christ Seminar
The image of Christ as a liberating metaphor.

The Jesus Seminar

Four colored beads that made history

The Seminar met twice a year to debate technical papers circulated in advance. At the end of each debate, scholars voted by dropping a colored bead into a box. The beads soon became the Seminar's trademark.

The scholars judged that about 18% of the sayings and 16% of the deeds attributed to Jesus in the gospels are authentic. Their findings were published in The Five Gospels (1993) and The Acts of Jesus (1998).

Phase 1 Sayings · 1985–91 Phase 2 Deeds · 1991–96 Phase 3 Profiles · 1996–98

See The Five Gospels