Jesus Seminar 2004, Times Square, New York

This was taken from the 8th floor of the Marriott Hotel on Times Square where we had lunch on Friday.  If you have wide band, a spectacular version of this scene can be viewed at http://www.marlaine.com/NewYork/TimesSquare.htm

The seminar is normally held in Santa Rosa, California, just outside of San Francisco - this was the first session ever held on the east coast. This is the meeting room where we met every day from Wednesday, March 3, until Saturday, March 7. This was the front row where the fellows of the seminar sat throughout the sessions. Note Elaine taking a picture of the speaker. You can just make out Bob Miller's pony tail.

A close up of one of the tables. Left to right is Karen Armstrong talking to Richard Holloway, Marcus Borg and Robert Miller from the front this time. After the presentation, the first persons to question the speaker came from the panel. Finally, questions were offered from the audience, like the lady above and the chap to the right.

We generally sat in the second or third row. Each of the fifteen sessions had a  45+ minute talk by a main speaker followed by prepared questions by the fellows to her/his left. Above is Lloyd Geering giving the primary address.  Then, the fellows in the front row had a chance to question the speaker -- like Robert Miller above.  Note: That is Lloyd Geering just above his name. Love my 8x optical zoom!

The coffee breaks were scrumptious. All those trays were full of munchies at the beginning of the AM break. Perhaps no genius here, but these are three of our local (Maryland) JSSG; David, Marv and Ray. And here, I'm sure I was complimenting Lloyd Geering on his spectacular book, "Christianity Without God".  Here is Elaine chatting with Christine and Jack Spong. There was a $120/person banquet on Saturday evening, but as you see to the right, some of us decided to offer our own banquet instead.

This gave chat time for everyone. Above is Donald Cupitt talking to Char Matejovsky about the conference. Char is not only the wife of Bob Funk, but the organizing genius of Westar. I may have been asking Mark Borg  how he defines God. Lunches were excellent, even those not overlooking the street. Here are some of the D.C. and California participants serving pizza to the  homeless and hungry at St. Bartholomew's a mile away from the Marriott. We think over 75 grateful hungry passed through after the word got out on the street. This cost us $30 apiece and really felt good.

To finish this picture account of the Jesus Seminar in New York, I will show podium pictures of the main speakers that my Nikon 5700 could pick up. Only their names will be posted since, paraphrasing Fermat, "the margin is too small to contain even the jist of the presentation".  I'm sure you can eventually get them from Westar. They are all superb and well worth it.

Robert W. Funk Anne Primavesi Marcus Borg Karen L. King

John Shelby Spong Eugenie C. Scott James Carroll Elaine Pagels

Don Cupitt Lloyd Geering Richard Holloway Karen Armstrong